THE  LOUISIANA 
HISTORICAL  QUARTERLY 


Vol.  :;.  No.  2.  April.  1920 


A  History  of  the  foundation 
of  \cw  Orleans 

1 7 17- J 722 


ll\  Hilton  Mure  dc  \'ili 
Translated  from  the  l-'rcncfi  />y  Wurrin^toii 


Published  Quarter!- 

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THE  LOUISIANA 
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VOL.  3.  No.  2  April,  1920 


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OFFICERS 

OF  THE 

LOUISIANA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

CASPAR  CUSACHS,  President. 

JOHN  DYMOND,  First  Vice-President. 

BUSSIERE  ROUEN,  Second  Vice-President. 

HENRY  RENSHAW,  Third  Vice-President. 

W.  O.  HART,  Treasurer. 

MISS  GRACE  KING,  Recording  Secretary. 

MRS.  HELOISE  HULSE  CRUZAT,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

HENRY  P.  DART,  Archivist. 

Executive  Committee 

John  Dymond,  Chairman;  Caspar  Cusachs,  Bussiere  Rouen,  Henry  Renshaw, 
W.  O.  Hart,  Henry  P.  Dart,  Miss  Grace  King  and  Mrs.  Heloise  Hulse  Cruzat. 

Editor  Historical  Quarterly 

JOHN  DYMOND,  Cabildo,  New  Orleans. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Volume  3,  No.  2  April,  1920 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ORLEANS 

(1717-1722) 

By  Boron  Marc  de  Villiers 
Translated  from  the  French  by  Warrington  Dawson 


THE  LOUISIANA 
HISTORICAL  QUARTERLY 


VOL.  3,  No.  2 


April,  1920 


A  History  of  the  Foundation 
of  New  Orleans 

(1717-1722) 

By  Baron  Marc  de  Villiers. 
Translated  from  the  French  by  Warrington  Dawson. 


FOREWORD 


ATITUDE  must  be  allowed  in  the  use  of  the 
term  foundation,  when  speaking  of  New  Orleans. 
According  to  the  interpretation  given,  the  date 
may  be  made  to  vary  by  six  years,  or  even  much 
more. 

Since  time  immemorial,  the  present  site  of 
Louisiana's  capital  had  been  a  camping-ground  for  Indians  going 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mobile  River.  As  soon  as 
the  French  had  settled  on  Massacre  Island,  that  site  became  the 


158  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

customary  landing-place  for  travellers  on  the  Father  of  Waters. 
Wherefore  the  history  of  New  Orleans  might  be  said  to  date  from  the 
winter  of  1715-1716,  when  Crozat  demanded  that  a  post  be  founded 
where  the  city  now  stands;  or  even  from  1702,  in  which  year  M.  de 
Remonville  proposed  the  creation  of  an  establishment  "at  the  Mis- 
sissippi Portage." 

And  yet,  a  lapse  of  fifteen  years,  which  might  be  almost  qualified 
as  proto-historic,  put  a  check  upon  the  Colony's  development.  Then 
Bienville  revived  Remonville' s  project.  The  Marine  Board  at  last 
harkened  to  reason,  and,  in  concert  with  the  Company  of  the  West, 
appointed,  on  the  1st  of  October,  1717,  a  cashier  in  New  Orleans. 

Land  was  not  broken,  however,  until  the  end  of  March,  1718. 
Even  then,  work  progressed  slowly,  owing  to  the  hostility  of  settlers 
along  the  coast.  A  year  later,  the  new  post  consisted  but  of  a  few 
sheds  built  of  boughs  surrounding  a  "hut  thatched  with  palm-leaves." 
The  great  Mississippi  flood  followed  in  1719,  and  then  came  the  war 
with  Spain.  New  Orleans  was  all  but  abandoned.  At  Paris,  Rue 
Quincampoix,  marvellous  drawings  were  displayed.  But  in  January, 
1720,  Bienville  could  count,  within  the  circumference  of  a  league, 
"only  four  houses  under  way." 

News  of  the  flood  had  been  considerably  exaggerated  by  par- 
tisans of  Mobile  or  of  Biloxi.  The  Directors  of  the  Company  of  the 
Indies  stopped  work  on  the  new  counter.  There  was  even  talk  of 
transferring  it  to  the  Manchac  Plain,  about  a  dozen  leagues  farther 
north. 

Thanks  to  Bienville's  tenacity,  New  Orleans  was  never  com- 
pletely abandoned,  and  so  managed  to  exist  until  the  decision  of  the 
23rd  of  December,  1721,  reached  Louisiana,  raising  the  town  to  the 
rank  of  capital. 


So  the  date  for  the  foundation  of  New  Orleans  may  be  fixed  at 
pleasure  anywhere  between  the  spring  of  1717  and  the  month  of 
June,  1722,  when  Le  Blond  de  La  Tour,  the  Engineer-in-Chief, 
compelled  to  go  and  visit  the  site  of  the  capital,  had  no  choice  but  to 
ratify  purely  and  simply  the  plan  drawn  up  a  year  before  by  Adrien 
de  Pauger. 

In  1720,  Le  Maire,  one  of  the  Colony's  best  geographers,  still 
obstinately  refused  to  mark  the  place  on  his  map.  Franquet  de 
Chaville,  the  engineer,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town,  declares, 
categorically  in  favor  of  the  year  1722.  According  to  Penicaut, 
Father  Charlevoix  gives  1717.  Even  by  eliminating  1722  and  1721 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  159 

— and  1719,  when  the  great  flood  occurred— the  years  1717,  1718,  and 
1720  remain.  Stoddart  rejects  historical  subtleties  and  chooses 
1720.  (Sketches  Historical  and  Descriptive  of  Louisiana,  1812.) 
More  circumspect,  the  Chevalier  de  Champigny  asserts  in  1776,  in 
his  Etat  present  de  la  Louisiane:  "New  Orleans  was  founded  by 
Bienville  in  1718,  1719,  and  1720." 


The  surest  date  would  appear  to  be  1718.  Nevertheless,  1717, 
recalling  the  official  foundation  of  New  Orleans  in  Paris,  might  be 
adopted,  for  with  towns  as  with  men,  a  christening  is  a  species  of 
consecration.  Furthermore,  in  French  territory,  where  administra- 
tive formalities  thrive  to  excess,  can  it  be  alleged  that  a  town  which 
boasts  a  cashier  and  a  major  does  not  exi  ' 

In  its  prolonged  uncertainty,  the  fate  of  New  Orleans  suggests 
that  of  a  seed  cast  hap-hazard  on  uncultivated  soil.  At  the  end  of  a 
year  it  might  begin  to  sprout,  but,  unable  to  thrust  its  roots  firmly 
down,  might  remain  latently  alive,  always  exposed  to  chance  gusts 
of  wind  seeking  to  blow  it  away.  Luckily,  the  germ  of  the  future 
capital  took  to  the  water  as  naturally  as  did  its  soil.  The  inunda- 
tion of  1719,  after  very  nearly  drowning  New  Orleans,  ended  by 
settling  it  firmly  upon  the  fine  crescent  of  the  Mississippi. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUNDATION 
OF  NEW  ORLEANS 

1717-1722) 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Mississippi  Portage. 

XPLORING  the  region  in  1682,  Robert  Cavelier 
de  La  Salle,  Henri  de  Tonty,  the  Sieur  de  Bois- 
rondet,  La  Metairie,  the  notary,  Father  Zenobe, 
and  their  eighteen  companions,  beheld  the  site  on 
which  Louisiana's  capital  was  destined  to  prosper. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  they  "passed  the  Houmas' 
village  without  knowing  it,  because  of  the  fog  and  because  it  was 
rather  far  away."  After  a  slight  skirmish  against  the  Quinipissas, 
they  discovered,  at  the  end  of  three  days,  the  Tangibaho  village, 
recently  destroyed  by  the  Houmas,  and  they  "hutted  on  the  left 
bank,  two  leagues  below." 

It  is  difficult  to  locate  with  any  degree  of  precision  the  village 
mentioned  by  La  Salle,  or  by  Tonty  a  few  years  later.  Complica- 
tions arise  from  the  fact  that,  soon  after  the  Europeans  had  passed, 
several  Indian  tribes  of  the  region,  notably  the  Tinsas,  the  Bayou- 
goulas,  and  the  Colapissas,  emigrated  northward,  or  else  disappeared 
more  or  less  completely,  like  the  Mahouelas,  who  seemed  to  have 
denizened  the  Tangibaho  village.  Furthermore,  Louisiana  Indians 
observed  the  primitive  custom  of  abandoning  their  huts  when  the 
chief  died. 

Nevertheless,  an  attentive  comparison  of  the  letters  and  narra- 
tives of  Cavelier  de  La  Salle,  of  La  Metairie,  of  Nicolas  de  La  Salle, 
of  Tonty,  of  Iberville,  and  of  Le  Sueur,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  Tangibaho  village,  situated  in  the  Quinipissas'  territory,  and 
whose  portage  passed  through  its  centre,  must  have  lain  very  near 
the  present  site  of  New  Orle 

Three  years  had  p?  y  learned  at  Fort  St.  Louis 

in  Illinois  that  "M.  de  I  lade  a  descent  upon  the  Florida 


162  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

coast,  that  he  was  fighting  the  savages  and  lacked  provisions." 
The  valiant  pioneer  went  down  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  8th  of 
April,  1686,  reached  the  Quinipissa  village.  Being  unable,  however, 
to  gather  any  information  about  the  expedition  of  his  former  chief, 
he  was  soon  compelled  to  turn  back  towards  Illinois. 

Shortly  after,  the  Quinipissas  (Tonty  writes  indifferently  Quini- 
pissas or  Quinepicas  dispersed,  and  a  certain  number  from  among 
them  fused  with  the  Mougoulachas,  a  tribe  related  to  the  Baya- 
goulas.  Launay,  one  of  Tonty's  companions,  makes  a  formal  state- 
ment to  this  effect.  So  we  may  explain  how  Bienville  found  the 
Mougoulachas  in  possession  of  the  letter  for  La  Salle  which  Tonty 
had  left  with  the  Quinipissas.  And  yet,  the  last  named  tribe  had  not 
totally  disappeared,  since  Tonty  wrote,  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1700:  "The  Qunipissas,  the  Bayagoulas,  and  the  Mougoulachas 
number  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  men."  (Sau voile  wrote  Mau- 
gaulachos.) 

The  first  explorers  of  Louisiana,  knowing  little  about  the  usages 
and  being  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  tongue  of  local  Indians, 
mistook  for  distinct  tribal  denominations  all  the  proper  names  they 
heard.  In  1701,  Sauvolle  still  reckoned  thirty-six  in  a  territory 
occupied  by  only  five  or  six  separate  tribes.  Le  Maire  was  among 
the  earliest  to  avoid  this  error.  He  wrote  in  1718:  'The  names  with 
which  old  maps  bristle  are  not  so  much  those  of  different  nations,  as 
distinctions  of  those  who,  within  one  nation,  to  secure  lands  for  them- 
selves have  parted  from  the  main  village  and  have  chosen  titles  to 
serve  as  identification.1  Between  the  Tonicas  and  the  Houmas 
were  the  Tchetimatchas,  who  formerly  extended  as  far  as  the  sea. 
This  nation  was  driven  away  after  having  murdered  a  missionary 
(Father  St.  Come)  and  they  are  now  wanderers.  Another  nation, 
formerly  connected  with  this  one,  separated  from  it  to  avoid  being 
implicated  in  the  war  waged  against  the  Tchetimatchas,  and  four 
years  ago  settled  down  with  the  Houmas."  (Archives  Nationales, 
Colonies,  C13c,2,£  164.)  Le  Maire  refers  to  the  Indians  established 
near  English  Turn,  numbering  sixty  men,  as  Cuzaouachas. 


Luckier  than  the  ill-fated  Cavelier  de  La  Salle,  who  had  been 
miserably  murdered  before  reaching  the  St.  Louis  River,  Le  Moyne 
d'Iberville  succeeded  after  many  difficulties  in  approaching  by  sea* 
and  so  discovered  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  in  1699. 


iThree  years  later,  in  enumerating  the  Indians  in  the  Mobile  region,  Diron  grouped  the  twenty 
eight  villages  into  three  nations. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  163 

Owing  to  this  circumstance,  the  name  of  Malbanchia  would 
seemingly  have  been  more  appropriate  for  the  great  river.  The  name 
Mississippi,  by  which  the  Illinois  knew  it,  was  totally  unknown  to 
tribes  living  south  of  Arkansas.  If  the  river  had  been  originally 
discovered  from  the  mouth,  it  would  probably  have  been  Malbanchia. 
According  to  Pellerin,  the  savages  near  Natchez  called  the  Mississippi, 
in  1720,  the  Barbanca  or  else  the  Missouri. 

"Mississippi,  or  River  Everywhere,"  says  an  anonymous  memoir 
in  the  National  Archives,  "comes  from  the  Ontoubas  word  Missi  or 
the  Illinois  Minoui,  everywhere,  and  Sipy,  river,  because  this  river, 
when  it  overflows,  extends  its  channels  over  all  the  lands,  which  are 
flooded  and  become  rivers  everywhere.  It  is  also  called  Michisipy, 
Great  River;  and  the  Illinois  call  it  Metchagamoui,  or  more  com- 
monly Messesipy  or  Missi-Sipy,  All-River,  because  all  the  rivers, 
that  is  to  say  very  many,  empty  into  it,  from  its  source  to  its  mouth." 
(Arch.  Nat.,  Colonies,  &*cA,£  164.) 

On  the  9th  of  March,  1699,  Iberville  observed  the  site  where 
New  Orleans  was  eventually  to  rise. 

"The  savage  I  had  with  me,"  he  writes  on  that  date,  "showed 
me  the  place  which  the  savages  have  as  their  portage,  from  the  end 
of  the  bay  where  our  ships  are  anchored,1  to  reach  this  river.  They 
dragged  their  canoes  over  a  fairly  good  path;  we  found  there  several 
pieces  of  baggage  belonging  to  people  going  one  way  or  the  other. 
He  pointed  out  to  me  that  the  total  distance  was  very  short/' 

Next  year,  Iberville  profited  by  information  he  had  received, 
and  passed  through  Lake  Pontchartrain  to  reach  the  Mississippi: 

"18th  January — I  have  been  to  the  portage,"  he  writes.  "I 
found  it  to  be  about  half  a  league  long;  half  the  way  full  of  woods 
and  of  water  reaching  well  up  on  the  leg,  and  the  other  half  good 
enough,  a  country  of  cane-brakes  and  woods.  I  visited  one  spot,  a 
league  beneath  the  portage,  where  the  Bayagoulas  (this  word  has  veen 
crossed  out  and  replaced  by  Quinipissas)  formerly  had  a  village, 
which  I  found  to  be  full  of  canes,  and  where  the  soil  is  but  slightly 
flooded.  I  have  had  a  small  desert  made,  where  I  planted  sugar- 
canes  brought  by  me  from  Martinique;  I  don't  know  if  they  will 
take,  for  the  exhalations  are  strong."  (Arch.  Hydrog.  115x,N°.5,£  16.) 

A  month  later,  Le  Sueur,  starting  out  on  his  exploration  of  the 
upper  Mississippi,  and  Tonty,  who  had  come  to  put  himself  at  the 
disposal  of  his  compatriots,  met  here.  At  this  period,  the  portage- 
way  could  not  have  been  broken,  since  Le  Sueur's  porters  were  sev- 


»lberville  had  left  his  boats  opposite  Ship  Island  where  he  was  to  found  Biloori,  and  had  gone 
away  in  a  canoe,  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  hugging  the  shore. 


164  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

eral  times  lost  in  the  cypress  swamps.  Two  of  the  men  even  had 
their  feet  frozen  from  spending  a  night  tinder  such  conditions;  in 
consequence  of  which  accident  the  way  was  occasionally  referred  to, 
and  for  a  considerable  while,  as  'The  portage  of  the  Lost."  A  map 
dated  1735  gives  it  this  name. 

Penicaut,  one  of  Le  Sueur's  companions,  camped  on  the  site  of 
New  Orleans  and  slept  under  enormous  cypresses  which  served  at 
night  as  perches  for  innumerable  "Indian  fowls  weighing  nearly 
thirty  pounds,  and  all  ready  for  the  spit."  Gunshots  did  not  frighten 
them. 

New  Orleans  is  situated  just  below  the  thirtieth  degree  of  North 
latitude.  Iberville  and  Le  Sueur  both  took  the  bearings  of  the 
portage;  their  calculation,  verified  by  Delisle,  indicated  29°58'  and  30°3' 
In  1729,  Brown,  the  astronomer,  profiting  by  an  eclipse,  found  29°57'. 
This  portage,  before  becoming  definitely  that  of  Bayou  St.  John,  or 
of  New  Orleans,  was  endowed  with  the  most  varied  names.  It  is 
called  indifferently  the  Portage  of  the  Lost;  of  Billochy  (original 
spelling  of  Biloxi);  of  Lake  Pontchartrain;  of  the  Fish  River  (proba- 
bly a  mistake,  for  a  memoir  on  the  navigation  of  Lake  Pontchartrain 
mentions  the  Fish  River  as  lying  half-way  between  Bayou  St.  John 
and  Manchac) ;  and  finally,  Bayou  Tchoupic  of  Tchoupicatcha. 

At  all  events,  and  in  spite  of  generally  accepted  beliefs,  it  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  Houmas'  portage,  discovered  by  Le  Sueur 
and  lying  six  leagues  farther  north.  In  our  opinion,  the  Houmas 
did  not  live  near  the  site  of  New  Orleans,  even  when  the  French 
arrived  there.  The  village  of  these  Indians  was  not  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Pontchartrain,  but  "two  good  leagues  and  a  half  away  from 
the  river,"  according  to  a  letter  of  Tonty's;  two  leagues,  according 
to  Iberville;  one  league  and  a  half  from  the  river  and  on  the  crest 
of  a  hill,  according  to  Father  Gravier.  Some  little  time  later,  the 
Houmas  emigrated  northward  and  a  certain  number  among  them 
settled  not  far  from  the  Iberville  River,  a  new  portage  responsible 
for  additional  confusion.  In  1718,  Bienville  wrote:  "There  are 
mulberry-trees  at  New  Orleans;  the  Houma  nation,  six  leagues 
beyond,  can  supply  some."  (C12c,IV-14.) 


As  early  as  1697,  M.  de  Remonville,  returning  from  a  trip  to 
Illinois,  had  planned  with  Le  Sueur  to  found  a  Mississippi  Company. 
He  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  think  of  building  a  post  near 
site  'of  New  Orleans,  to  replace  the  fort  established  by  P'-emUe  i 
1700,  twenty-five  leagues  from  the  river's  mouth,  as  a  protect^ 


A  History  of  the  foundation  of  New  Orleans 


165 


166  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

against  a  return  of  the  English.  This  post,  surrounded  by  marshes, 
was  soon  neglected  and  was  completely  evacuated  in  1707,  '  'lacking 
launches  to  supply  it  with  food." 

Remonville  writes,  6th  August,  1702,  in  his  Historical  Letter 
Concerning  the  Mississippi:  "The  fort  which  was  in  (sic)  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  eighteen  leagues  from  the  mouth  on  the  west  side, 
and  which  is  commanded  by  M.  de  St.  Denis,  a  Canadian  officer, 
since  the  death  of  M.  de  Sauvolle  (whose  place  has  been  taken  by 
M.  de  Bienville,  brother  of  M.  d'Iberville),  must  also  be  changed. 
It  should  be  transferred  eleven  leagues  higher,  to  the  eastward,  in  a 
space  of  land  twelve  leagues  long  and  two  leagues  wide  (at  barely 
a  quarter  of  a  league  from  the  Mississippi,  which  is  very  fine)  beyond 
the  insulting  reach  of  floods  and  near  a  small  river.  The  latter  flows 
into  Lake  Pontchartrain  and,  by  means  of  the  canal  where  M.  le 
Sueur  passed,  joins  the  sea  about  a  dozen  leagues  from  Mobile.  This 
will  make  communications  much  shorter  and  easier  than  by  sea." 
(Bibl.  Nat.  Mss.  Fr.  9097,  fol,  127.) 

In  1708,  Remonville  drew  up  another  memoir: 

'The  first  and  pricipal  establishment  ought  to  be  built  on  high 
ground  dominating  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  spot  where  the  late  M.  d'Iberville  built  the  original  fort.  A  fort 
consisting  of  four  buildings  is  required  here,  the  largest  of  which 
can  be  constructed  in  the  manner  of  the  country,  that  is,  with  big 
trees,  turf,  and  palisades.  This  fort  must  be  provided  with  artillery 
and  armed;  its  area  must  be  sufficient; to  enclose  warehouses  for  mer- 
chandise drawn  from  the  different  establishments  up  the  river. 
In  this  same  fort,  rooms  must  be  built  for  silk-work  to  be  done  by 
people  the  company  may  employ.  The  Mississippi  Fort  will  need 
thirty-five  workmen,  Canadians  or  sailors,  for  navigating  the  brigan- 
tines."  (Colonies  C13a,2,fo.  366.) 

Reverting  to  the  subject  in  his  Description  of  the  Mississippi, 
1715,  Remonville  wrote: 

"Le  Sueur  relates  in  his  journal  that,  eleven  leagues  above  the 
fort  built  by  Iberville,  there  is  a  stretch  of  high  ground  twelve  leagues 
long  and  a  league  and  a  half  wide  beginning  a  quarter  of  a  league 
from  the  river;  that  it  can  never  be  flooded,  and  that  a  savage  nation 
called  the  Billocki  have  transported  their  village  thither,  on  the 
banks  of  a  river  named  the  St.  John  River,  which  flows  into  Lake 
Pontchartrain.  A  post  at  this  point  would  not  be  without  utility 
as  warehouse  for  the  projected  establishment  at  Natchez.  Twelve 
leagues  higher,  there  is  also  the  portage  of  the  Le  Sueur  Ravine." 
(Colonies,  ¥*,  24,  fol.  81.) 


A  History  ol  the  Foundation  oj  New  Orleans 


167 


EMBOUCHURES  DU 

MISSISSIPI 


^^iS^^s""""  -..  ^     '  / 

-»^— ,^,'v"'--:''^^          C*"S»V 

:>V,  N-*.^.--. 


I 

I 


When  a  party  of  Alsatian  colonists  arrived,  a  few  years  later, 
they  settled  opposite  to  the  last  named  point. 

Ever  believing  firmly  in  the  future  of  Louisiana,  Remonville 
crossed  to  the  colony  several  times.  He  had  secured  permission  to 
accompany  Iberville  in  1699,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  went  on  that 
first  expedition.  Eventually  he  built  on  Dauphin  Island  a  "fine  and 
commodius"  house,  one  room  of  which  long  did  service  as  a  chapel. 
In  1711,  he  fitted  out  LaRenommee  and  took  personal  charge  of  her 
as  "Commander  during  the  campaign,"  although  he  was  said  to  know 
nothing  about  navigation. 

Unfortunately,  all  his  commercial  ventures  failed.  The  last  of 
them  effected  a  few  captures;  one  among  these,  which,  according  to 
Remonville  himself,  had  been  "pillaged  in  an  almost  unprecedented 
way"  was  released  at  Martinique,  and  the  captain  was  paid  an  in- 
demnity of  fifteen  thousand  livres  or  francs;  another  was  lost  within 
sight  of  Louisiana.  The  deficit  was  more  than  forty  thousand  livres. 
Upon  his  return,  creditors  seized  all  his  goods  and  even  obtained 
against  him  several  writs  of  arrest,  from  which  he  escaped,  thanks 
only  to  a  special  safe-conduct,  granted  him  by  the  Council  of  Regency. 


1 68  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Completely  ruined,  Remonville  asked,  and  in  vain,  on  the  21st 
of  December,  1717,  for  a  post  in  Louisiana  "because  he  had  been  the 
only  one  to  sacrifice  himself  to  help  the  colony."  Though  the  valiant 
colonist  may  have  proven  a  mediocre  tradesman,  he  was  enterprising, 
and  the  services  he  rendered  were  very  real.  But  he  was  not  heeded; 
and  in  Paris,  as  in  Louisiana,  the  Mississippi  rested  under  the  spell 
of  a  detestable  reputation. 

Mandeville  wrote  in  1709:  "It  is  easy  to  go  from  Fort  Mobile 
to  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  from  that  lake  a  portage  of  one  league 
leads  to  the  Mississippi  (sic).  By  this  means,  the  river  is  reached 
without  passing  through  the  mouth,  which  lies  twenty -five  leagues 
down  a  very  difficult  country,  because  often  flooded  and  filled  with 
alligators,  serpents,  and  other  venimous  beasts.  Furthermore,  at 
the  deepest  of  the  passes  there  are  only  seven  feet  of  water."  (Colonies 
F3,24,fol.  55.) 

Another  memoir,  slightly  later  says:  "The  Mississippi  does 
nothing  but  twist;  it  goes  the  rounds  of  the  compass  every  three 
leagues.  For  six  months  it  is  a  torrent,  and  for  six  months  the  waters 
are  so  slow  that  at  many  place  pirogues  can  scarcely  get  past." 
Duclos,  the  Ordinator,  declared  that  to  navigate  the  Mississippi 
one  had  to  be  born  a  Canadian  and  a  Coureur  de  Bois. 

Finally,  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  who  described  himself  as  "a  savage 
born  a  Frenchman,  or  rather  a  Gascon,"  wrote  on  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1714:  "Trying  to  take  barges  up  the  St.  Louis  River  as  far 
as  the  Wabash  and  the  Missouri  is  like  trying  to  catch  the  moon 
with  your  teeth."  (0^,4.424.) 

La  Mothe-Cadillac,  as  is  known,  had  rapidly  conceived  a  preju- 
dice against  Louisiana;  he  used  to  say,  "Bad  country,  bad  people." 
"I  saw,"  he  related  in  1713,  "three  seedling  pear-trees;  three  apple 
trees,  the  same;  and  a  little  plum-tree  three  feet  high  with  seven 
sorry  plums  upon  it;  about  thirty  vine-plants  bearing  nine  bunches 
of  grapes,  each  bunch  being  rotted  or  dried  up.  There  you  have  the 
earthly  paradise  of  M.  d'Artaguette,  the  Pomona  of  M.  de  Remon- 
ville, and  M.  de  Mandeville's  Islands  of  the  Blest!" 

Nevertheless,  those  responsible  in  France  understood  that  they 
could  not  rest  eternally  contented  with  occupying  a  few  sterile 
sand-banks  along  the  coast.  There  was  no  choice  but  to  settle  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  connect  with  Canada.  On  the  18th  of  May, 
1715,  an  order  was  signed  directing  Bienville  to  create  a  post  "at 
the  Natkes"  (sic)  and  at  Richebourg,  and  to  found  another  "at 
the  Wabash  which  shall  henceforth  be  called  the  St.  Jerome  River." 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  169 

According  to  Father  Marest,  the  Indians  called  this  river  Akansca- 
Scipui. 

These  decisions  followed  close  upon  the  return  of  Baron,  Captain 
of  the  Atalante,  who  wrote  on  the  20th  of  January,  1715:  'The  right 
place  for  an  establishment  is  the  entire  length  of  the  river,  starting 
with  the  Natchez  village  a  hundred  leagues  from  the  sea-coast, 
whither  M.  de  La  Loire  and  his  brother  were  sent  in  April,  1714, 
and  thence  as  far  as  the  Illinois  country.  I  have  always  heard  that 
it  is  at  the  said  Natchez  that  the  soil  begins  to  be  good,  which  can  be 
judged  according  to  appearances."  (Arch.  Hydrog.  672,No.  5.) 

At  about  the  same  period— the  paper  is  undated — Crozat  pre- 
sented a  memoir  in  which  he  said: 

"The  new  posts  which  have  been  proposed  to  His  Excellency 
for  occupation  are,  first  of  all,  Biloxi,  on  the  Mississippi,  eighteen  or 
twenty  leagues  from  the  sea.  It  is  the  spot  where  M.  d'Iberville 
made  his  first  establishment;  it  is  also  the  spot  by  which  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  is  reached  from  Lake  Pontchartrain,  through  a  small 
stream.  Furthermore,  it  is  not  right  that  there  should  be  no  post 
on  the  Mississippi  River  towards  the  sea,  that  of  Natchez  being 
^ixty  leagues  away.  Twenty  men  should  be  put  there." 

How  little  was  known  of  Louisiana  geographically  in  Paris,  is 
shown  by  this  singular  document,  where  three  very  different  posts 
are  confused  and  located  in  one  same  spot;  Iberville's  original  Biloxi; 
the  Portage  of  the  Mississippi— or  of  the  Biloxi,  a  nation  which, 
according  to  Le  Maire,  had  then  dwindled  to  five  or  six  families— 
and  the  abandoned  Mississippi  Fort. 

The  post  demanded  by  Crozat  would  necessarily  be  established 
on  the  site  of  New  Orleans.  But  the  project  was  not  ratified;  the 
instructions  given  to  L'Epinay  on  the  29th  of  August,  1716,  do  not 
mention  any  post  to  be  created  beneath  Natchez: 

44 *  *  *  It  would  seem  absolutely  necessary  to  found  a  post  on 
the  Mississippi  and  to  send  thither  fwo  companies  with  M.  de  Bien- 
ville,  King's  Lieutenant,  to  take  command,  he  being  much  loved 
by  the  savages  and  knowing  how  to  govern  them.  From  this  post, 
detachments  may  be  made  according  to  necessities  for  the  post  to  be 
established  on  the  Red  River  and  the  Wabash.  There  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that  this  post  will  be  the  most  important  in  the  colony, 
owing  to  the  mines  which  lie  not  far  distant,  to  the  trade  overland 
with  Mexico,  to  the  beauty  of  the  climate,  and  to  the  excellence 
of  the  soil  which  will  induce  residents  to  stay  there.  This  post  was 
ordered  to  be  at  Natchez;  nevertheless  Major  de  Boisbriant  thinks 


1 70  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

wiser  to  place  it  among  the  Yazoos,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
thirty  leagues  beneath  Natchez."  (Colonies,  C"a,4,fol.  225.) 

Three  years  of  experiments  had  amply  sufficed  to  disgust  Crozat 
with  his  commercial  monopoly  in  Louisiana.  He  had  counted  on 
two  main  sources  of  revenue,  mining  and  a  more  or  less  illicit  trade 
with  the  rich  provinces  of  New  Mexico;  both  had  brought  in  nothing 
save  bitter  disappointment. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  yielded  neither  gold  nor  silver;  and,  at 
his  first  attempt  to  develop  commercial  relations,  the  Spaniards 
closed  their  ports  to  French  ships  and  kept  strict  watch  upon  their 
Texas  frontier.  Juchereau  de  St.  Denis  succeeded,  by  an  adven- 
turous exploring  expedition,  in  going  up  the  Red  River  and  reaching 
Rio  Grande  del  Norte ;  but  the  sole  result  was  the  creation  of  a  Spanish 
post  at  Assinais,  for  the  special  surveyance  of  trade  with  our  establish- 
ment at  Natchitoches. 

Crozat,  perceiving  that  his  privilege  cost  him  at  least  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  livres  a  year,  took  ever  less  interest  in  the 
future  of  Louisiana;  and  when  January,  1716  came,  the  Colony's 
position  appeared  desperate.  The  troops  had  dwindled  to  some 
hundred  and  twenty  men;  and  if  we  are  to  believe  Cadillac,  there 
were  not  more  than  sixty  colonists  and  officials.  Such  a  handful  of 
Frenchmen  could  not  have  defended  Louisiana  against  encroach- 
ments of  the  English,  who  had  already  settled  as  masters  among  the 
Choctaws  and  even  among  the  Natchez.  It  was  well  for  France 
that  the  Carolina  traders  should,  by  their  exactions,  have  driven 
the  Indians  to  an  uprising  in  1716.  The  Council  of  Regency,  ac- 
quainted with  the  situation,  made  the  melancholy  remark,  on  the 
llth  of  February,  1716,  that  "if  Louisiana  has  held  her  own,  it  is 
rather  by  a  sort  of  miracle  than  by  the  care  of  men;  the  first  inhabi- 
tants having  been  abandoned  for  several  years  without  receiving 
any  assistance." 

When  the  Justice  Chamber  imposed  a  very  heavy  tax  upon 
Crozat  (it  was  said  to  exceed  six  million  livres),  the  great  financier 
asked  permission  to  retrocede  his  privilege;  and  on  the  13th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1717,  the  Council  recognized  "that  the  improvement  of  Louis- 
iana was  too  great  an  undertaking  for  one  private  individual  to  be 
left  in  charge;  that  the  King  could  not  properly  take  charge  himself, 
since  His  Majesty  could  not  enter  into  all  the  commercial  details 
inseparable  from  it;  and  so  the  best  thing  is  to  choose  a  company 
powerful  enough  for  this  enterprise."  (Marine,Bl,l9,fol.46.) 

Six  months  later,  Law  founded  the  Company  of  the  West,  and 
Crozat  eventually  received  an  indemnity  of  two  million  livres.  The 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  171 

letters  patent  of  the  Company  were  signed  in  August,  and  its  Direc- 
tors appointed  on  the  12th  of  September,  1717  The  Board  was 
composed  as  follows:  Law,  Director  General  of  the  Bank;  Diron 
d'Artaguette,  Collector  General  at  Auch;  Duche,  Honourary  Senior 
Clerk  of  the  Treasury  at  La  Rochelle;  Moreau,  Commercial  Deputy 
for  St.  Malo;  Castagniere,  Merchant;  Piou  and  Mouchard,  Commer- 
cial Deputies  from  Nantes.  On  the  5th  of  January,  1718,  Raudot, 
Marine  Intendent,  and  Boivin  d'Hardencourt  and  Gilly  de  Mon- 
taud,  Merchants,  completed  the  Board. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Directors  was  to  decide  that  New 
Orleans  should  be  founded. 


Le  Nouveau  Mercure  for  September,  1717,  published  a  letter 
from  Louisiana,  dated  the  previous  May,  whose  author,  a  naval 
officer,  recommends  the  building  of  a  counter  at  English  Turn: 


<<*  *  *  T^  largest  ships  can  easily  enter  the  St.  Louis  River. 
Its  mouth  can  readily  be  cleaned,  the  depth  of  water  is  eleven  or 
twelve  feet.  This  obstacle  being  done  away  with,  the  river,  whose 
bed  is  very  good,  flows  quite  straight  for  twenty-five  leagues,  and  then 
forms  a  cove  where  an  excellent  port  can  be  made." 

Although  this  solution  recommended  itself  from  a  naval  point 
of  view,  it  had  the  drawback  of  not  improving  the  connections  with 
Lake  Pontchartrain.  Wherefore  Bienville,  after  a  careful  study  of 
the  question,  preferred  to  select  the  present  site  of  New  Orleans  "on 
one  of  the  finest  crescents  of  the  river/'  This  expression,  found  in  a 
memoir  drawn  up  in  1725  or  thereabouts,  shows  that  the  crescent, 
which  was  later  to  give  New  Orleans  her  nickname,  had  been  observed 
almost  from  the  start.  Other  references  to  it  are  found:  'The  very 
fine  crescent  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans."  (CWcfl,fol.l35).  "Her 
port,  which  is  her  richest  ornament,  describes  a  very  fine  crescent." 
(C"a,42,fol.295). 

In  spite  of  the  rather  swampy  soil,  exposed  to  floods  when  the 
river  rose,  the  choice  of  a  site  was  good,  since  it  lay  sufficiently  near 
the  sea  and  less  than  a  league  from  Bayou  St.  John,  whence  all  the 
coast  establishments  could  be  reached  by  boat.  The  vision  of  Bien- 
ville had  been  clear,  and  the  nascent  colony  would  have  been  spared 
many  calamities  if  stores  had  been  built  at  New  Orleans  early  in 
1718  and  colonists  had  been  enabled  to  land. 


172 


The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 


But  rancourous  jealousies,  on  the  part  of  inhabitants  of  Mobile 
and  of  Biloxi,  acted  for  four  years  as  a  check  on  the  new  Mississippi 
counter.  In  consequence,  the  growth  of  Louisiana  was  arrested. 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Naming  and  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 

ESI  RING  to  greet  M.  de  L'Epinay,  the  new  Gov- 
ernor, Bienville  came  down  the  river  in  the  spring 
of  1717.  Although  appointed  the  year  before, 
L'Epinay  had  not  hurried  to  leave  France;  one 
of  the  reasons  given  for  his  delays  was  that  he  would 
not  sail  until  a  twelvement's  emoluments  had  been 
paid  him  in  advance. 

According  to  Father  Charlevoix,  this  event  serves  to  determine 
the  period  when  the  site  for  New  Orleans  was  definitely  chosen. 
"In  that  year,"  he  writes,  "the  foundation  of  Louisiana's  capital 
was  laid.  M.  de  Bienville,  having  come  from  Natchez  to  greet  the 
new  Governor,  told  him  that  he  had  noticed,  on  the  river-banks,  a 
very  favourable  site  for  a  new  post."  (Histoire  et  description  de  la 
Nouvelle  France,  Vol.  IV,  p.  196.) 

This  version  may  pass  all  the  more  readily,  at  least  in  sub- 
stance, since  Bienville  wrote  on  the  10th  of  May,  1717:  "I  have 
handed  to  M.  de  L'Epinay  a  memoir  on  all  the  establishments  which 
must  be  built  in  this  country.  He  asked  me  for  it  in  order  that  he 
might  send  it  to  the  Board.  I  take  the  liberty  of  assuming  that  I 
said  in  this  memoir  all  there  was  to  be  said,  very  sincerely  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  knowledge  I  have  acquired  during  nearly  twenty 
years."  (Arch.  Nat.,  Colonies,  C«a,4,  fol.  63.)  Unfortunately,  we 
have  not  been  able  to  find  this  document. 

It  is  an  incontestible  fact  that  on  the  1st  of  October,  1717,  the 
Marine  Board  appointed  Bonnaud  store-keeper  and  cashier,  with  a 
salary  of  nine  hundred  litres,  at  the  counter  which  is  to  be  established 
at  New  Orleans,  on  the  St.  Louis  River."  Colonies,  B42bis.fol.  180.) 


174  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

On  the  31st  of  December  following,  M.  d'Ayril,  former  captain  of  the 
Royal  Baviere,  was  named  Major  at  the  new  post.  "Be  it  further 
understood,"  his  nomination  reads,  "that  in  the  absence  of  the 
Commandant  of  the  said  city,  you  shall  command  as  well  the  inha- 
bitants thereof  as  the  warriors  who  are  there  and  may  later  be  gar- 
risoned there;  and  shall  give  them  such  orders  as  you  may  judge 
necessary  and  appropriate  for  the  glory  of  His  Majesty's  name, 
the  welfare  of  the  Company's  service,  and  the  maintenance  and 
development  of  its  trade  in  the  said  country."  (Colonies, ,B  42bis, 
475,  and  f324,  fol.  241.)  Three  months  later,  d'Avril  was  promoted 
Major-General  with  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  livres.  At  the  end  of 
three  years,  he  was  recalled,  and  left  Louisiana  on  the  8th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1721. 

The  appointment  of  Bonnaud,  signed  on  the  1st  of  October, 
only  three  days  after  that  of  Bienville  as  "Commander  General  of 
the  Louisiana  Company,"  shows  the  haste  of  the  Directors  to  found 
the  New  Orleans  post,  at  least  theoretically.  Hopes  of  promoting 
the  sale  of  the  Company's  paper,  then  representing  sixty-six  million 
livres,  as  issued  on  the  19th  of  September,  certainly  played  a  part 
in  this  precipitation.  Within  three  months,  the  Company's  capital 
was  raised  to  one  hundred  million  livres. 

A  register  which  must  have  belonged  to  a  Director  of  the  Com- 
pany of  the  Indies  contains  copies  of  "orders  and  expenses  of  the 
Company  of  the  West,  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  until  this  day." 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  this  manuscript,  which  ends  with  the 
year  1721,  many  of  the  entries  are  left  undated. 

"*  *  *  8th.  Resolved  to  establish  a  port  and  a  store  at  Ship 
Island  to  unload  and  warehouse  merchandise  coming  from  Europe, 
because  this  island  is  within  reach  of  Biloxi,  the  naval  centre  of  the 
Colony. 

"9th.  Resolved  to  establish,  thirty  leagues  up  the  river,  a  burg 
which  should  be  called  New  Orleans,  where  landing  would  be  possible 
from  either  the  river  or  Lake  Pontchartrain." 

The  decrees  which  follow  prescribe  the  establishing  of  a  burg 
at  Natchez,  and  of  forts  in  Illinois  and  among  the  Natchitoches. 

Since  the  conditional  mood  was  used  in  alluding  to  New  Orleans, 
it  might  appear  that  this  was  the  first  decree  relative  to  the  projected 
town.  And  yet,  in  the  chapter  on  increases  of  expenses  proposed 
for  1717,  the  following  entries  are  to  be  noted: 

Since  this  Lieutenant  "To  the  King's  Lieutenant  who  will  have 
gets  only  1,200  livres  and  the  chief  command  of  the  post  on  the 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  175 


is  to  have  the  chief  Mississippi  River,  as  a  gratuity 600  liv. 

command  of  an  impor- 
tant post,  this  gratuity 
seems  justified. 

Having  only  900  liv.  a      To  the  Major,  as  an  increase  in  pay  300  liv. 

year,  this  increase  seems 

justified. 

A  chirurgeon  is  neces-       To  a  chirurgeon  serving  the  post  on  the 

sary  in  this  important      Mississippi  River „ 500  liv. 

post. 

Idem.                                To  an  armourer  who  may  also  be  a  black- 
smith for  the  said  post 360  liv. 

(Colonies,  FU9,  281.) 

The  Louisiana  Budget  passed,  in  1717,  from  114,382  livres  to 
262,427  livres;  65,545  /.  were  entered  as  permanent  increases,  and 
82,500  /.  as  "expenses  made  once  and  for  all." 

When  this  statement  .of  expenses  was  drawn  up,  the  Mississippi 
post  was  still  unbaptised,  in  spite  of  its  recognised  importance. 
The  name  of  New  Orleans  was  certainly  known  in  Paris  at  the  end 
of  September,  1717;  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  it  must  have  been 
current  in  Louisiana  at  the  same  period.  On  the  1st  of  September, 
L'Epinay  and  Hubert  announce  "the  early  foundation  of  two  posts," 
and  a  memoir  drawn  up  by  Hubert,  preserved  at  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign' affairs,  declares:  "New  Orleans,  which  is  to  be  the  naval 
centre,  must  be  properly  fortified."  Nevertheless,  it  makes  a  refer- 
ence to  another  memoir,  of  the  month  of  October,  which  it  compli- 
ments and  in  which  we  read  "the  establishments  are  too  far  from  the 
Mississippi,  a  river  supplying  an  excellent  base."  There  cannot 
be  much  difference  in  date  between  the  two,  and  we  even  believe 
they  went  by  the  same  mail.  Hubert,  who  had  asked  to  be  ap- 
pointed manager  of  the  Missouri  post,  changed  his  mind  as  soon  as 
he  had  secured  a  concession  in  the  Natchez  country. 

Considering  the  slowness  of  communications  at  that  period,  we 
are  of  the  opinion  that  New  Orleans  must  have  been  given  its  name 
not  by  the  Marine  Board,  nor  by  the  directors  of  the  Company  of 
the  West,  but  by  Bienville  and  L'Epinay,  in  their  report  of  May, 
1717,  on  the  new  posts  to  be  established. 

The  names  chosen  for  many  previous  posts  in  Louisiana  had 
been  scarcely  attractive.  Mobile  appeared  to  cast  reflections  on  its 
own  stability;  the  still  widely-used  name  of  Massacre  Island  was 


1 76  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

• 

calculated  to  alarm  timid  souls;  while  Biloxi  and  Natchitoches  struck 
Parisian  ears  as  being  very  exotic.  Bienville  had  perceived  this. 
In  1711  he  wrote  that  he  had,  together  with  D'Artaguette,  ' 'called 
the  fort  Immobile,  and  changed  Massacre  Island  to  Dauphin  Island." 
On  the  margin  of  their  despatch  is  noted:  'Tort  St.  Louis  as  it  was 
called — instead  of  Castel  Dauphin  or  Mount  Dauphin;  the  island  is 
on  a  mountain  (sic).  "  In  July,  1717,  the  Marine  Board  considered 
the  names  of  Maurice  Island,  or  Orleans  Island. 

A  town  baptised  in  honour  of  H.  R.  H.  the  Regent  could  not  but 
make  a  favourable  impression  upon  emigrants.  Such  august  patronage 
inspired  confidence  to  Le  Page  du  Pratz  and  twenty  other  colonists, 
who  decided  to  embark  for  the  new  city,  at  the  beginning  of  1718. 
When  starting  forth,  these  worthy  people,  and  the  two  functionaries 
already  appointed  to  New  Orleans,  cannot  have  had  a  very  clear 
idea  on  the  location  of  their  future  residence.  Many  opinions  were 
expressed  in  Paris.  Some  claimed  that  the  new  counter  must  be  at 
English  Turn,  others  on  Lake  Pontchartrain,  others  at  the  mouth 
of  Bayou  St.  John;  or  again,  somewhere  along  the  Iberville  River. 

For  a  considerable  time  these  geographical  questions  remained 
unsettled,  so  far  as  France  was  concerned.  Harmony  did  not  reign 
even  for  the  spelling  of  recognised  names.  The  strange  orthography 
"L'Allouisiane"  is  found  fairly  often,  nobtaly  in  an  admirably  penned 
memoir  preserved  at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs.  In  other 
official  records  we  find  "Louisianne"  and  "Louizianne."  A  despatch 
of  D'Artaguette's  is  annotated:  ' 'Investigate  whether  this  River 
of  the  Maubilians  is  not  the  Colbert  River."  As  we  have  said, 
Biloxi  was  frequently  confused  with  the  portage  of  Bayou  St.  John, 
at  first  known  as  the  Portage  of  the  Billochis;  another  frequent  error 
was  to  place  the  Mississippi  Islands  at  the  river's  mouth. 

The  Mississippi  Counter  had  been  baptised,  and  this  was  a 
point  of  crucial  importance  to  bureaucratic  eyes.  But,  as  has  been 
remarked,  the  title  is  half  the  whole  book;  and  so  the  Directors  of 
the  Company,  aftei  approving  the  name,  rested  for  four  years. 

Purists  found  objections  to  raise.  'Those  who  coined  the  name 
Nouvelle  Orleans,"  Father  Charlevoix  observes,  "must  have  thought 
that  Orleans  was  of  the  feminine  gender.  But  what  does  it  matter? 
The  custom  is  established,  and  custom  rises  above  grammar." 

His  remark  is  just.  The  general  rule,  in  French,  is  for  names  of 
towns  to  be  masculine  when  they  are  derived  from  a  foreign  mascu- 
line or  neater  names,  or,  more  simply,  when  the  last  syllable  is  mascu- 
line according  to  the  rules  of  versification.  Yet  there  are  exceptions; 
thus  Londres  is  masculine  and  Moscou  feminine. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  177 

If  both  custom  and  derivation  were  strictly  respected,  Orleans 
(Aurelianum)  would  incontestibly  be  masculine,  although  Casimir 
Delavigne  has  written: 

Chante,  heureuse  Orleans,  les  vengeurs  de  la  France. 

The  reason  for  the  feminising  of  New  Orleans  was  probably 
euphonic.  Nouvean-Orleans  would  have  been  too  offensive  to  the 
ear.  It  is  true  that  Notivel-Or leans  might  have  passed.  Perhaps 
Nouvelle-Orleans  was  adopted  by  analogy  with  Nouvelle-France, 
Nouvelle-  York,  etc. 


A  more  delicate  question  is  that  of  determining  the  exact  period 
when  work  on  New  Orleans  was  begun.  According  to  Father  Charle- 
voix,  it  started  as  early  as  1717. 

"M.  de  L'Epinay,"  he  says,  "commissioned  M.  de  Bienville 
for  this  establishment,  and  gave  him  eighty  illicit  salt-makers, 
recently  arrived  from  France,*  with  carpenters  to  build  a  few  houses. 
He  also  sent  M.  Blondel  to  replace  Pailloux  at  Natchez,  and  the 
latter  was  ordered  to  rejoin  M.  de  Bienville  and  second  him  in  his 
enterprise,  which  was  not  carried  very  far.  M.  de  Pailloux  was 
appointed  Governor  to  the  nascent  town."  On  the  Statement  of 
Expenses  for  1718,  Pailloux  is  entered  as  Major-General  with  a  salary 
of  nine  hundred  litres.  (Colonies,  B.  42  bis,  fol.  299.) 

The  evidence  of  the  historian  of  New  France  would  merit  serious 
consideration,  if  he  had  not  copied  this  passage  textually,  with  one 
correction,  from  a  very  unreliable  manuscript  entitled  Relation  ou 
annale  dc  cc  qni  sest  passe  en  Louisiane  (Bibl.  Nat.,  Mss.  Fr.  14613), 
for  which  Andre  Penicaut  supplied  the  information. 

This  work  on  the  foundation  of  New  Orleans  is  filled  with 
errors  so  gross  that  they  would  be  incomprehensible,  if  they  were 
not  evidently  deliberate.  In  1723,  the  unhappy  carpenter  had  gone 
blind,  and  his  Relation  is  really  but  an  explanatory  memoir  to  justify 
his  request  for  a  pension.  Under  these  conditions,  the  author  would 
have  blundered  if  he  had  described  the  true  state  of  the  future  capital 
when  he  left  it  in  1721.  Governor  La  Mot  he-Cadillac  was  sent  to 
sojourn  in  the  Bastille  with  his  son,  for  having  written:  "This 
Colony  is  a  beast  without  either  head  or  tail.  *  *  *  *  The  Arkansas 
mines  are  a  dream,  and  the  country's  fertile  lands  an  illusion." 

Consequently,  Penicaut  cannot  be  blamed  if  some  of  his -de- 
scriptions are  so  fanciful  as  to  be  worthy  of  a  Rue  Quincampoix 


>The  Journal  kistoriqut  de  F  Etablissement  des  Franfais  en  Louisiane  reduces  this  number  to  fifty. 
We  »hall  see.  further  on,  that  even  this  figuie  aeems  exaggerated. 


JEAN-BAPTISTE  LE  MOYNE  DE  BIENVILLE 
(1680-1765} 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  179 

circular.  The  author's  motive  in  advancing  by  a  year  the  foundation 
of  New  Orleans  is  less  easily  explained.  According  to  the  sequence 
of  events  as  given  in  the  Relation,  and  notably  the  arrival  of  the 
Neptune,  Penicaut  would  appear  to  have  confused  the  choice  of  a 
site  for  New  Orleans  with  the  building  of  the  first  huts.  But  most 
of  his  dates  are  inaccurate,  his  work  having  been  compiled  from 
memory. 

Benard  de  La  Harpe,  in  his  Journal  de  voyage  de  la  Louisiane 
et  des  decouvertes  quil  a  faites,  gives  the  date  of  March,  1718;  never- 
theless, the  author  had  not  reached  Louisiana,  so  his  opinion  has  not 
the  weight  of  direct  evidence.  The  work  entitled  Journal  historique 
de  VEtablissement  des  Frangais  en  Louisiane,  wrongly  attributed  to 
La  Harpe  and  very  probably  written  by  the  Chevalier  de  Beaurain, 
King's  Geographer,  gives  February  as  the  approximate  period. 

La  Harpe  writes:  "In  the  month  of  March,  1718,  the  New 
Orleans  establishment  was  begun.  It  is  situated  at  29°50',  in  flat 
and  swampy  ground  fit  only  for  growing  rice;  river  water  filters 
through  under  the  soil,  and  crayfish  abound,  so  that  tobacco  and 
vegetables  are  hard  to  raise.  There  are  frequent  fogs,  and  the  land 
being  thickly  wooded  and  covered  with  canebrakes,  the  air  is  fever- 
laden  and  an  infinity  of  mosquitoes  cause  further  inconvenience  in 
summer.  The  Company's  project  was,  it  seems,  to  build  the  town 
between  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  John  river  which  empties  into 
Lake  Pontchartrain ;  the  ground  there  is  higher  than  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi.  This  river  is  at  a  distance  of  one  league  from 
Bayou  St.  John,  and  the  latter  brook  is  a  league  and  half  from  the 
Lake.  A  canal  joining  the  Mississippi  with  the  Lake  has  been  planned 
which  would  be  very  useful  even  though  this  place  served  only  as 
warehouse  and  the  principal  establishment  were  made  at  Natchez. 
The  advantage  of  this  port  is  that  ships  of  ....  (left  blank)  tons 
can  easily  reach  it."  (P.  81.) 

If  the  building  of  New  Orleans  did  not  begin  in  March,  it 
was  certainly  put  under  way  the  following  month.  Bienville  writes, 
10th  of  June,  1718:  "We  are  working  on  New  Orleans  with  such 
diligence  as  the  dearth  of  workmen  will  allow.  L  my  self  went  to  the 
spot,  to  choose  the  best  site.  I  remained  for  ten  days,  to  hurry  on 
the  work,  and  was  grieved  to  see  so  few  people  engaged  on  a  task 
which  required  at  least  a  hundred  times  the  number.  ...  All  the 
ground  of  the  site,  except  the  borders  which  are  drowned  by  floods,  is 
very  good,  and  everything  will  grow  there."  (Archives  des  Aff. 
Etrang.,  Mem.  et  Docum.  (Amerique)  Vol.  I;  p.  200.) 


180  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Four  days  previously,  in  a  despatch  of  which  the  summary 
alone  remains,  Bienville  had  proposed  the  digging  of  a  canal  between 
the  Mississippi  and  Lake  Pontchartrain,  for  purposes  of  sanitation, 
but  had  added:  "It  is  more  convenient  to  pass  through  the  mouth 
than  through  the  Lake."  (Arch.  Nat.,  Colonies,  C«c,  4,  fol.  14.) 
In  the  preceding  January,  Chateaugue  had  reported  that  "the  sea 
is  often  dangerous  on  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  the  squalls  are  vio- 
lent." 

The  date  for  the  first  work  done  on  New  Orleans  lies,  then, 
between  the  15th  of  March  and  the  15th  of  April,  1718.  But  in 
spite  of  Bienville' s  efforts,  and  owing  to  hostility  from  "the  Mau- 
bilians,"  the  buildings  made  but  slow  progress.  Le  Gac  was  justified 
in  writing  in  his  Memoire  sur  la  situation  de  la  Louisiane  le  25  aoftt 
1718:  "New  Orleans  is  being  scarcely  more  than  shaped."  (Bibl. 
de  1'Institut,  Mss.  487,  fol.  509.) 


For  a  long  while,  adversaries  of  the  Mississippi  Counter  adopted 
the  tactics  of  refusing  to  recognize  its  existence. 

Frangois  Le  Maire,  the  geographer-missionary,  particularly 
distinguished  himself  by  his  obstinacy.  He  felt  able  to  write,  as  late 
as  the  13th  of  May,  1718:  "Since  the  last  ships  came,  there  is  talk 
of  the  establishment  to  be  made  at  New  Orleans.  That  is  the  name 
recently  given  to  the  space  enclosed  between  the  Mississippi,  the 
Fish  River,  and  Lakes  Pontchartrain  and  Maurepas.  My  map 
shows  distinctly  this  big  spot  on  the  coast,  and  the  lay  of  the  land.  I 
should  have  liked  to  mark  the  place  where  the  fort  is  planned,  but  the 
place  is  not  yet  decided  upon.  This  establishment  will  be  excellent, 
provided  the  Mississippi  is  made  to  empty  into  Lake  Pontchartrain. 
Otherwise  an  infinity  of  people  will  die  from  lack  of  water  fit  for  drink- 
ing most  of  the  year."  (Arch.  Hydrog.  67,  No.  15.)  Six  months 
later,  however,  Le  Maire  repeats  in  his  Memoire  sur  la  Louisiane: 
"At  the  end  of  this  year  (1718)  orders  came  to  transfer  the  principal 
establishment  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  If  the  spot  is  decided 
upon  before  the  ships  leave,  I  shall  not  fail  to  mark  it  on  my  map." 
(Colonies,  C13c,  4,  fol.  155.)  One  might  seek  to  explain  this  by 
an  error  in  dates,  if  the  Grand  Vicar  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  had  not 
supplied  further  evidence,  on  the  19th  of  May,  1719:  "The  precise 
bearings  of  New  Orleans,  in  relation  to  Lake  Pontchartrain,  are  still 
unknown  to  me."  (Arch.  Hydrog.,  115,  23.) 

Le  Maire's  ill-will  is  only  the  more  evident  because  he  constant- 
ly betrays  the  hope  that  New  Orleans  may  be  created  on  Lake  Pont- 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  181 

chartrain,  so  that  its  counter  may  be  tributary  to  Biloxi.  In  another 
very  detailed  memoir,  while  acknowledging  that  "the  Mississippi 
is  the  key  to  the  entire  country,  thanks  to  the  communications  it 
offers  with  the  lakes  leading  to  Canada,"  he  nevertheless  asserts 
that  no  port  exists  between  St.  Bernards'  Bay  and  Ship  Island. 
(Colonies.  &*c,  2,  fol.  161.) 

We  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  period  at  which  Delisle 
added  the  name  of  New  Orleans  to  his  map  dated  1718.  The  vivid 
Relation  du  voyage  des  dames  Ursulines  de  Rouen  a  la  Nouvelle  Orleans, 
informs  us  that  in  1727  most  maps  of  America  still  failed  to  give  the 
site  of  Louisiana's  capital. 

"You  note,  dear  Father,"  Madeleine  Hachard  writes,  "that  you 
have  bought  two  big  maps  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  and  that  you 
do  not  find  New  Orleans  on  them.  They  are  apparently  old,  for  this 
town,  capital  of  the  country,  should  not  have  been  omitted.  I 
regret  that  you  spent  one  hundred  and  ten  sols  without  finding  our 
place  of  residence.  I  believe  new  maps  are  to  be  made,  on  which 
the  establishment  will  be  marked." 

The  good  nun's  father  was  veritably  unlucky;  he  bought  a  third 
map  "on  which  New  Orleans  is  represented  upon  the  shores  of  Lake 
Pontchartrain,  at  a  distance  of  six  leagues  from  the  Mississippi." 

A  map  still  preserved  at  the  Archives  Hydrographiques,  dated 
1721,  indicates  the  mouth  of  Bayou  St.  John  as  the  site  for  the  future 
capital.  (Arch.  Hydrog.,  portfolio  138  bis,  I,  9.) 


Let  us  now  return  to  the  foundation  of  New  Orleans,  quoting 
from  worthy  Penicaut.  After  declaring  that  "the  first  year  only  a 
few  lodgings,  and  two  big  stores  for  war  supplies  and  general  pro- 
visions, were  built,"  and  adding,  more  truthfully,  that  "the  Neptune 
(arrived  in  1718)  was  brought  into  the  river,  laden  with  munitions 
sent  by  M.  de  L'Epinay,"  he  or  his  editor  yields  to  astonishing 
freaks  of  fancy: 

"M.  the  Commissary  Hubert  also  went  at  the  same  time  to  New 
Orleans,  through  Lake  Pontchartrain,  into  which  flows  a  little  river 
since  called  the  Orleans  River.  It  may  be  followed  from  the  Lake 
to  this  place,  within  three  quarters  of  a  league.  A  few  days  after  his 
arrival,  M.  Hubert  selected  a  spot  situated  at  a  distance  of  two 
gunshots  from  the  limits  of  New  Orleans,  near  the  little  river  of  the 
same  name,  where  he  built  a  very  fine  house.1  Several  families 

»It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Penicaut  was  seeking  Hubert's  protection  in  Paris. 


182  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

living  on  Dauphin  Island  also  came  to  settle  in  New  Orleans.  M.  de 
L'Epinay  and  de  Bienville  sent  many  soldiers  and  workmen  thither 
to  hurry  on  the  building.  They  despatched  to  M.  de  Pailloux  an 
order  to  erect  two  barracks  large  enough  to  hold  one  thousand 
soldiers  apiece  (!)  because  many  were  expected  from  France  that 
year,  in  addition  to  a  number  of  families  from  neighboring  con- 
cessions. All  this  came  about,  as  stated." 

The  plain  truth,  alas!  was  less  attractive.  In  March,  1719, 
one  year  after  work  commenced,  there  were  still,  according  to  Bien- 
ville, "only  four  houses  under  way/'  (Colonies,  C™a,  5,  fol.  209.) 
When  Hubert,  appointed  on  the  14th  of  March,  1718,  as  "Director 
General  of  the  New  Orleans  Counter,"  with  a  salary  of  five  thousand 
litres,  rejoined  his  post  in  the  autumn,  far  from  "building  a  very 
fine  house,"  his  first  care,  as  soon  as  a  few  colonists  came,  was  to 
induce  them  to  settle  at  Natchez,  where  he  had  just  obtained  a  very 
large  concession. 

And  yet,  Hubert  was  forced  to  countersign,  on  the  28th  of 
November,  1718,  Bienville's  decision,  confirmed  on  the  12th  of 
September,  1719,  by  Le  Gac  and  Villardeau,  "granting  to  the  Sieurs 
Delaire,  Chastaing,  and  Delaroue1  in  addition  to  their  concession 
in  the  Taensas'  country  *  *  *  four  places  within  the  enclosure  of 
the  new  town  of  Orleans,  as  their  exclusive  freehold  property  *  *  * 
it  being  stipulated  that  they  shall  execute  all  the  clauses  and  con- 
ditions prescribed  for  inhabitants  of  the  new  town."  (Colonies, 
Q3C,  4,  fol.  216.) 

If  Bienville  and  Pailloux  were  the  first  residents  in  New  Orleans, 
the  honour  of  being  the  first  landowners  reverts  to  the  Delaire  Broth- 
ers, Chastaing,  and  Delaroue.  A  map  preserved  at  the  Archives 
Hydrographiques,  Carte  nouvelle  tres  exacte  d'unepartie  de  laLouisiane, 
1718,  indeed  bears  the  mention:  "New  Orleans,  founded  in  1718 
by  the  Sieur  Pradel."  (Arch.  Hydrog.,  Bibl.  4040,  C.  II,  fol.  6.) 
But  this  is  evidently  a  mistake  attributable  to  the  confusion  of 
New  Orleans  with  Fort  Orleans  on  the  Missouri,  to  whose  establish- 
ment Pradel  contributed  in  1724,  under  Bourgmont's  orders. 

We  have  not  yet  described  the  arrival  of  the  Neptune  and  of  the 
Vigilante  at  New  Orleans,  because  there  is  reason  to  ask  whether 
these  ships  did  not  really  unload  at  English  Turn,  where,  according 

to  the  seemingly  reliable  document  which  we  reproduce  (see  p... ), 

a  large  store  had  been  built  at  this  time. 


lAppointed  Notary  of  the  Colony,  14th  March,  1718. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 


183 


The  instructions  handed  to  Beranger  on  the  1st  of  October, 
1717,  specify:  "*  *  *  When  he  reaches  Louisiana,  he  will  receive 
orders  from  M.  Hubert,  for  going  up  the  Mississippi  River;  the 
brigatine  Le  Neptune  being  affected  to  navigating  the  river,  the  Com- 
pany intends  him  if  possible  to  go  to  Illinois,  and  he  shall  use  every 
means  for  getting  there."  This  shows  the  illusions  entertained  in 
Paris  about  the  navigability  of  the  Mississippi.  Nevertheless,  we 


Original  Card  uhich  figured  in  Ike  name  of  New  Orleans  (1718) 

are  all  the  more  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Neptune  did  not  go  so 
far  as  New  Orleans,  in  1718,  since  Beranger,  in  sundry  memoirs, 
while  admitting  that  he  has  piloted  several  vessels  in  the  river,  de- 
clared for  a  long  time  that  none  could  sail  up  to  New  Orleans.  ; 

Although  Louisiana  paid  small  attention  to  the  new  counter, 
Paris  devoted  much  thought  to  it,  while  reaching  no  definite  opinion 
as  to  a  suitable  locality.  The  instructions  delivered  by  the  Company 


184  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

to  Chief  Engineer  Perrier,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1718,  allowed  him 
utmost  latitude  for  the  choice  of  a  site: 

"Ascending  the  river  to  the  point  which  Messrs,  the  Directors- 
General  may  judge  proper  for  laying  the  first  foundations  of  New 
Orleans,  he  must  take  the  best  map  he  can  of  the  river's  course.  .  .  . 
We  do  not  know  what  place  will  be  selected,  but  since  the  said  Sieur 
Perrier  is  to  be  present  at  the  council  held  for  this  purpose,  he  must 
be  made  to  understand  the  leading  considerations. 

"The  chief  among  these  is  to  find  the  most  convenient  place  for 
trading  with  Mobile,  whether  by  sea  or  by  Lake  Pontchartrain, 
which  place  must  be  in  the  least  danger  from  inundation  when  floods 
occur,  and  as  near  as  possible  to  the  best  agricultural  lands. 

"These  various  considerations  convince  us,  as  far  as  we  can 
judge,  that  the  most  convenient  site  is  on  the  Manchac  brook;  the 
town  limits  should  stretch  from  the  river-banks  to  the  edge  of  the 
brook.  This  spot  must  be  examined  to  see  if  the  land  is  suitable, 
before  any  definite  choice  is  made.  If  it  is  suitable,  then  New  Orleans 
will  be  better  there  than  elsewhere,  because  of  the  convenience  for 
communications  with  Mobile  by  the  brook,  which  is  reported  as 
navigable  at  all  times  and  at  slight  expense,  and  because  it  is  within 
reach  of  the  entrance  to  Red  River.  Thence  communication  may  be 
had  with  the  plantations  to  be  formed  in  the  Yazoos'  country,  where 
we  expect  wheat  to  be  first  planted — it  may  even  thrive  there, 
eventually.  Furthermore,  the  spot  mentioned  is  well  inland;  and 
then,  hunting  affords  abundant  means  for  subsistence,  and  the 
healthiness  of  the  air  can  be  relied  upon. 

"The  sole  difficulty  remaining  before  New  Orleans  can  be  built 
on  the  Manchac  brook,  is  its  distance  from  the  sea,  sixty-five  leagues. 
If,  however,  ships  can  readily  sail  up  so  far,  and  it  is  only  a  question 
of  a  few  days  more  or  less,  this  is  not  an  obstacle  to  outweigh  other 
advantages.  Ships  do  not  come  every  day,  and  the  other  conveniences 
are  enjoyed  the  year  round.  But,  at  the  same  time,  care  must  be 
taken,  in  going  up  the  river,  to  choose  the  most  suitable  place,  per- 
haps English  Turn,  for  establishing  a  battery1  in  a  small  fort  which 
may  prevent  hostile  ships  from  ascending. 

"*  *  *  When  the  site  for  New  Orleans  has  been  determined, 
we  presume  the  said  Sieur  Perrier  will  begin  by  marking  out  the 
limits  of  a  fort  which  may  later  become  a  citadel,  but  which  at^first 
need  simply  to  shut  in  with  stockade,  after  the  manner  of  the  coun- 
try. Here  the  Company's  stores  shall  be  situated  and  lodgings  for 


iThe  Company  prescribed  that  twelve  eight-pounders  should  be  put  here,  reserving  only  two 
six-pounders  for  New  Orleans. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  185 

the  Directors-General,  commanding  officers,  officers,  and  soldiers 
forming  the  New  Orleans  garrison.  This  being  done,  the  Sieur 
Perrier  shall  trace  out  the  town  limits  and  the  alignment  of  streets, 
with  the  size  of  lots  suitable  for  each  resident  of  the  town,  Messrs. 
the  Directors-General  having  the  privilege  to  allow  them  near-by 
lands  for  cultivation.  Once  the  men  are  lodged,  the  most  pressing 
need  is  for  storehouses.  We  can  make  no  prescriptions  as  to  the 
extent  of  these  or  the  manner  of  their  building,  questions  which 
Messrs,  the  Directors-General  must  settle  with  M.  Perrier.  We 
merely  recommend  to  his  attention  that  during  his  stay  at  Dauphin 
Island  and  in  Mobile,  he  must  collect  whatever  he  can  find  in  the  way 
of  planks,  hoarding,  and  scantling,  so  that  he  may^  use  them  upon 
•hing  New  Orleans. 

"There  i<  a  project  to  >tart  work  by  throwing  up  rouuh  shelters 
for  both  men  and  goods.  But  this  -hould  not  prevent  the  said  Sieur 
Perrier  from  seeking  at  the  same  time  the  best  means  to  obtain 
materials  for  permanent  building.  To  this  end,  he  shall  erect,  as 
soon  as  ,  a  brick  manufactory,  if  the  soil  in  or  near  New 

Orleans  is    rit;  alt-makers  who  understand 

brick-making  could  be  employed;  or  else  we  shall  <end  over  a  brick- 
maker  by  the  first  ships.  In  the  case  we  are  unable  to  find  others  to 
sail  with  him,  we  are  sending  bricks  in  the  three  ships  with  which 
he  sails;  he  shall  have  a  care  to  save  them  for  building  the  first  kiln. 

"These  first  measures  being  taken,  he  must  go  himself  to  seek, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  New  Orleans,  places  where  stone  may  be 
had  for  purposes  of  toth  building  and  chalk-making.  It  is  not  im- 
po-<iHe  n>me  may  be  discovered.  He  must  particularly  exert  him- 
self to  find  it  on  the  river-banks,  as  he  goes  up,  so  that  transporta- 
tion may  cost  less;  and  as  promptly  as  possible,  so  that  the  buildings 
may  be  stone  and  brick,  which  is  best  *  *  *"  (Colonies,  B.  42  bis, 
fol.  219.) 

On  the  23rd  of  April,  the  Company  appointed  Bivard  surgeon 
to  New  Orleans,  with  a  salary  of  six  hundred  livres;  and  on  the  28th, 
concessions  near  the  new  establishment  were  granted  to  twelve 
persons.  Amoug  these  pioneer  citizens  were:  Le  Page  du  Pratz, 
the  future  historian  of  Louisiana,  Le  Goy,  Pigeon,  Rouge,  Richard 
Duhamel,  Beignot,  Dufour,  Marlot  de  frouille,  Legras,  Couturier, 
Pierre  Robert,  the  three  Drissant  brothers,  Bivard  the  surgeon,  and 
Mircou  the  perruquier.  With  their  families  and  retainers,  they 
formed  a  band  of  sixty-eight  people.  (Colonies,  B.  42  bis,  fol.  252.) 

When  announcing  their  departure,  the  Company  added:  "If 
possible,  they  must  be  compelled  to  dwell  within  the  limits  of  New 


186  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Orleans,  having  only  gardens  there,  as  may  be  decreed,  and  receiving 
grants  or  lands  as  near  as  may  be,  in  proportion  to  their  strength." 
The  managers  furthermore  directed  that  two  soldiers  from  each  of 
the  eight  companies  should  be  released  on  condition  they  went  to 
live  in  New  Orleans;  they  were  to  receive  a  year's  pay,  besides  tools 
and  seeds.  % 

Terrier's  death,  which  occurred  in  Havana,  allowed  Hubert  to 
interpret  these  instructions  at  will;  he  sent  off  the  colonists  as  far  as 
he  could  from  the  new  post,  and  all  the  workmen  who  had  not  de- 
serted were  soon  called  back  to  Biloxi  on  one  pretext  or  another. 

When  Le  Page  du  Pratz  landed  in  January,  1719,  he  perceived 
"on  the  spot  where  the  capital  was  to  have  been  founded,  only  a 
place  marked  by  a  palmetto-thatched  hut,  which  M.  de  Bienville 
had  built  for  himself  and  where  his  successor,  M.  de  Pailloux,  lived." 
(Histoire  de  laLouisiane,  Vol.  I,  p.  83.)  ' 

All  of  Bienville's  efforts  had  been  paralysed  by  the  ill-will  which 
the  other  members  of  the  Board  displayed.  With  his  exception 
alone,  they  were  interested  in  ventures  at  the  old-trading  posts, 
they  would  tolerate  no  word  about  New  Orleans,  and  they  encouraged 
the  coalition  of  Mobile  colonists,  of  Biloxi  tradesmen,  and  of  Lake 
Pontchartrain  boatmen  whose  business  was  threatened  by  rivalry 
from  the  Mississippi. 

As  has  been  said,  Hubert  owned  a  large  plantation  at  Natchez, 
near  St.  Catherine's;  in  1820,  he  had  eighty  slaves  there,  and  twenty 
head  of  horned  cattle.  The  year  following,  he  sold  it  to  Dumanoir. 
But  meanwhile,  he  asked  for  the  concession  of  Cat  Island,  between 
Biloxi  and  the  entrance  to  Lake  Borgne,  "for  the  raising  of  rabbits"; 
and  he  proposed  to  found  the  Mississippi  Counter  at  Natchez  and  to 
drag  the  Iberville  River,  so  that  residents  in  Biloxi  might  retain 
their  rich  monopoly  for  trans-shipping  and  warehousing  all  mer- 
chandise from  Europe.  Nevertheless,  Hubert  had  at  first  been  a 
partisan  of  New  Orleans:  we  have  seen  how  he  had  declared  it  "must 
be  properly  fortified";  in  October,  1719,  he  wrote:  "The  reason  for 
making  a  colony  of  Louisiana  was  doubtless  to  become  masters 
of  the  Mississippi  and  to  occupy  it  *  *  *  And  yet  the  contrary 
was  done,  that  great  river  has  been  abandoned  for  the  Mobile  River." 
But  as  soon  as  he  had  secured  his  concession  at  Natchez,  his  opinions 
underwent  a  radical  change,  and  a  year  later  he  stated:  "The 
difficulties  of  the  lower  river  will  prevent  New  Orleans  from  ever 
being  a  safe  post." 

Duclos  judged  that  "instead  of  thinking  of  the  Mississippi,  all 
efforts  should  be  directed  towards  the  Mobile  River,"  which,  Du 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  ofNeiv  Orleans  187 

Gac  added,  must  remain  "the  master-key  to  the  colony."  An  earlier 
memoir,  drawn  up  by  M.  de  Granville,  Captain  of  La  Renommee, 
even  urged  that  the  chief  establishment  be  built  at  "Fort  Esquinoque" 
(probably  Tombigbee)  among  the  "Jatas"  (Choctaws)  sixty  leagues 
from  Mobile.  As  for  Larcebault,  he  considered  New  Orleans  "a 
submerged  country,  all  chopped  with  cypress  swamps";  and  Villar- 
deau  shared  his  opinion. 

After  Hubert,  Le  Gac  seems  to  have  been  the  most  inveterate 
adversary  of  New  Orleans.  "This  post,"  he  wrote  in  1721,  "is 
flooded  when  the  waters  rise,  and  is  fit  only  for  rice,  silk,  maize,  and 
all  sorts  of  vetgetables  and  fruit-trees.  Tobacco  may  also  be  grown." 
In  spite  of  which  fertility,  he  concludes  that,  although  a  company 
may  be  supported  there,  a  counter  must  not  be  established  at  any 
price. 

Profiting  by  the  fact  that  Boisbriant  had  left  in  a  very  bad 
season,  Le  Gac  hastened  to  write  to  Paris:  "M.  de  Boisbriant,  with 
his  company  of  settlers,  employes,  and  convicts,  took  more  than 
six  months  to  reach  Illinois,  because  they  had  to  winter  in  Arkansas. 
Ice  on  the  Wabash  delayed  them  and  they  could  not  do  more  than 
four  or  five  hours  of  rowing  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  owing  to  the 
swift  current.  Towing  is  impossible,  because  the  river  twists  all  the 
way.  *  *  *  The  banks  are  covered  with  impenetrable  woods  and 
canebrakes  *  *  *  whereas  Canadians  have  gone  overland  from 
Illinois  to  Mobile  in  less  than  a  month.  These  assert  that  the  distance 
was  not  more  than  seventy  leagues  (in  reality,  two  hundred  and 
fifty)  whereas  it  is  nearly  five  hundred  by  the  river  and  takes  five  or 
six  months.  Trees  should  be  blazed  on  both  sides  so  that  a  way 
may  be  made  and  recognized,  and  establishments  should  be  built 
from  place  to  place,  to  serve  as  retreats;  the  inhabitants  could  grow 
crops  and  raise  animals  to  supply  travellers  with  food  *  *  *  Only 
causeways  and  bridges  would  have  to  be  built,  here  and  there  *  *  *" 

In  spite  of  its  extravagance,  this  project  was  adopted  for  some- 
time by  the  Company  of  the  Indies;  but  the  Chickasaws  soon  closed 
the  way  to  the  most  intrepid  coureurs  de  bois. 


New  Orleans  had  none  the  less  demonstrated  its  utility,  from  the 
very  start;  Boisbriant,  with  the  several  hundred  soldiers  and  more  or 
less  voluntary  colonists  he  was  taking  to  Illinois,  had  found  shelter 
there  while  waiting  for  ships  to  be  got  ready.  Bienville  and  Hubert 
spent  the  autumn  in  New  Orleans,  to  supervise  the  outfitting  of  this 
expedition. 


188  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Benard  de  La  Harpe,  accompanied1  by  a  non-commissioned 
officer  and  six  men,  came  on  the  7th  of  November,  1718,  to  complete 
his  preparations  for  a  voyage  to  the  Cododaquis  Indians  on  the 
Red  River.  Finding  at  Dauphin  Island  no  means  of  transportation 
for  his  trading  goods  as  far  as  New  Orleans,  he  had  been  forced  to 
build  a  boat  at  his  own  expense  and  go  through  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  La  Harpe  finally  arrived  safe  and  sound;  nevertheless, 
his  pilot  being  entirely  inexperienced,  he  ran  considerable  dangers 
in  the  passes  of  the  river,  and  took  a  month  for  the  journey. 

"As  soon  as  I  reached  New  Orleans,"  he  states  in  his  Journal  de 
voyage  de  la  Louisiane,  "I  urged  M.  de  Bienville  to  get  me  started 
off  again.  He  represented  to  me  that  he  had  no  provisions  in  the 
stores,  and  that  the  Company  was  in  no  present  condition  to  make 
good  its  obligations  to  convey  me  at  its  expense,  with  my  people 
and  my  goods  to  the  place  where  I  was  to  choose  my  concession  on 
the  Red  River." 

La  Harpe,  who  had  already  done  much  travelling  in  South  Ameri- 
ca, where  he  had  even  found  a  wife,  managed  to  leave  on  the  12th 
of  December,  in  spite  of  the  Mississippi's  strong  current. 

At  about  the  same  period,  Dubuisson  landed  with  his  silk- 
growers;  but,  as  Le  Gac  did  not  fail  to  observe,  "he  settled  twenty- 
five  leagues  up  the  river  (at  Bayagoula)."  Le  Page  du  Pratz  was 
among  the  few  to  elect  a  residence,  though  transitorily,  on  the  banks 
of  Bayou  St.  John. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Mississippi  Flood  in  1719.     Consequences  of  the 
Capture-  of  I'cnsacola.     The  Year  1720. 

UCK  still  did  not  favour  New  Orleans;  the  year 
1719  brought  no  improvement  in  the  state  of  stagna- 
tion which  had  become  peculiar  to  the  town.  An 
altogether  abnormal  rise  of  the  Mississippi  —  the 
Indians  did  not  remember  having  ever  seen  its  like 
submerged  the  site,  which  remained  swampy  until  a 

dike  was  buiU. 

Coast  residents  made  the  best  of  this  mi-fortune,  exaggerating 
it  to  their  own  advantage.  We  may  note  in  this  connection  that  the 
1721  flood  of  the  Mobile  River,  which  devastated  all  the  plantations 
of  that  region  and  caused  far  graver  material  damage  than  had  been 
noted  in  New  Orleans  two  years  before,  passed  almost  unperceived 
at  Paris,  because  there  were  no  interested  parties  to  exploit  it  against 
Mobile. 

Bienville  himself  seems  to  have  allowed  his  faith  to  be  shaken, 
for  a  while.  On  the  15th  of  April,  1719,  he  countersigned  a  despatch 
of  Larcebault's  stating:  "It  may  be  difficult  to  maintain  a  town  at 
New  Orleans;  the  site  is  drowned  under  half  a  foot  of  water.  The 
sole  remedy  will  be  to  build  levees  and  dig  the  projected  canal  from 
the  Mississippi  to  Lake  Pontchartrain.  There  would  be  half  a  league 
of  cutting  to  do." 

Certainly  a  flood  was  a  disagreeable  event,  whether  the  depth 
of  water  were  really  "half  a  foot"  or  only  three  or  four  inches,  as 
stated  in  the  census  of  the  24th  of  November,  1721,  signed  by  Bien- 
ville, Diron  d'Artaguette,  La  Tour,  De  Lorme,  and  Duvergier. 
(Colonies,  G.,  464 J  But  this  bore  very  slight  resemblance  to  the 


190  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

catastrophe  over  which  the  members  of1  the  Colonial  Board  wept 
crocodile  tears.  Nor  does  it  appear  likely  that  the  flood  persisted  for 
"six  months." 

Hubert  promptly  turned  the  situation  to  his  advantage,  by 
transferring  to  Natchez  most  of  the  stores  warehoused  at  New 
Orleans.  "The  flood,"  he  wrote,  "compelled  all  the  residents  to  go  to 
Natchez,  where  the  land  lies  higher  and  the  heat  is  less  severe." 
But  since  the  garrison  and  several  clerks  remained  at  their  posts, 
this  picture  of  a  general  exodus  is  overdrawn,  to  say  the  least. 

Le  Page  du  Pratz,  who  had  settled  half  a  league  from  New 
Orleans,  does  not  even  mention  this  terrible  flood.  He  observes  that 
"the  country  being  decidedly  aquatic,  the  air  cannot  have  been  of 
the  best,"  but  adds:  "The  soil  was  very  good,  and  I  was  happy  on 
my  plantation."  Du  Pratz  acknowledges  that  he  had  no  particular 
motives  in  moving  to  Natchez,  unless  that  his  surgeon  was  going, 
that  his  Indian  maid  wished  to  be  near  her  family,  and  that  he 
complied  with  Hubert's  advice  and  acted  "from  friendship  for  him." 

Pellerin,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  among  the  colonists, 
wished  to  settle  near  New  Orleans,  in  spite  of  the  flood ;  he  camped 
on  the  banks  of  Bayou  St.  John  in  April,  1719.  As  soon  as  he  had 
found  a  good  site,  he  asked  for  a  concession.  But  Hubert  put  so 
many  obstacles  in  his  way  that  he,  too,  ended  by  settling  at  Natchez. 
He  wrote:  "There  are  in  New  Orleans  three  Canadian  houses  and 
a  store  belonging  to  the  Company,  where  we  stopped."  (Arsenal, 
Mss.  4497,  fol.  54.)  This  confirms  the  figures  given  by  Bienville, 
who  mentioned  four  dwellings.  To  get  to  Natchez,  Pellerin  passed 
through  the  lakes,  reaching  the  Mississippi  after  thirteen  days. 


Even  when  flooded,  New  Orleans  was  so  far  from  being  unin- 
habitable that  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1719,  the  Board  decided  to  send 
thither  a  clerk  "to  sell  wine  at  four  reals  per  pinU"  A  few  days  be- 
fore, the  Company  had  fixed  as  follows  the  salaries  for  officials  at 
the  new  counter:  Hubert,  Director,  five  thousand  limes.  A  store- 
keeper, nine  hundred  livres.  An  accountant  six  hundred  limes.  A 
clerk,  four  hundred  livres.  These  last  had  under  their  orders  "two 
men-of -all-work,  to  be  chosen  among  the  illicit  salt-makers  or  tobacco- 
smugglers,  without  wages  but  supplied  with  rations."  The  salary 
of  "the  missionary  to  be  sent  to  New  Orleans"  was  fixed  first  at  four 
hundred  livres,  afterwards  raised  to  five  hundred.  The  gunner  re- 
ceived three  hundred  and  sixty  livres. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Ozleans 


191 


M.  de  Bannez,  appointed  Lieutenant  on  the  28th  of  October, 
1717,  embarked  in  May  1719  on  the  Marie,  with  Dumont  de  Montigny 
Louisiana'a  poet-historian.  According  to  certain  records,  Bannez 
started  out  with  the  rank  of  Major-General  of  New  Orleans;  accord- 
ing to  others,  he  was  named  to  this  post  only  on  the  23rd  of  March, 
1720. 

The  flood  having  subsided,  public  attention  was  deflected  from 
the  Mississippi  posts.  Pensacola  was  taken,  lost,  and  recaptured. 


£<&$>  $„$#%$«#*£$  <3ft 

*&&  «|  $Q%£*A  trakS 

?*  ®  ^  (3^  >^xVA^    :  rpK^fl 


?fiW4«t^M>£ 


New  Orleans  in  1719.     (After  Dumont  of  Montigny.) 

The  certainty  that  the  famous  Illinois  mines  did  not  exist,  or  could 
never  be  worked,  caused  keen  disappointment.  It  is  worth  noting 
that  a  memoir  preserved  at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  recom- 
mends using  "for  the  discovery  of  these  mines,  wands  fitted  with 
electron,  mercury,  and  marcasites  on  which  the  heat  of  the  air  acts." 
(Mem.  et  Doc.  Amer.  Vol.  I,  fol.  433.) 


192  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Even  the  most  blindly  prejudiced  a<mong  the  colonists  should 
have  understood  the  urgent  need  for  organising  their  chief  warehouse 
at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  sea  to  protect  it  against  sudden 
attacks.  Dauphin  Island  had  been  sacked,  and  other  establish- 
ments too  near  the  coast  had  run  similar  risks;  these  examples 
should  have  sufficed  as  lessons.  Yet  the  adversaries  of  New 
Orleans  brought  contrary  influence  to  bear.  The  Company,  while 
changing  its  name  to  Company  of  the  Indies,  had  kept  the  Mississippi 
on  its  arms;  but  had  decided  to  make  Pensacola  the  main  port  of 
Louisiana,  regardless  of  the  facts  that  this  town,  whose  strategic 
importance  was  unquestionable,  yet  suffered  extreme  disadvantages 
for  trade  with  the  Mississippi,  the  recognized  centre  of  the  Colony. 
Taking  no  heed  for  the  expense  incidental  to  trans-shipments  of 
goods,  the  residents  of  Biloxi  wished  to  keep  ships  out  of  the  river 
and  so  retain  their  profits  from  the  unseaworthy  sloops  of  Lake 
Pontchartrain.  If  Pensacola  had  not  been  restored  to  the  Spanish, 
merchandise  from  Illinois  would  have  had  not  one  single  trans- 
shipment at  New  Orleans,  but  four:  at  Pensacola,  at  Biloxi,  at 
Bayou  St.  John  or  Manchac,  and  finally  on  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

A  further  drawback  to  Pensacola  as  chief  stronghold  for  the 
Colony  was  its  position  on  the  easternmost  frontier  of  France's 
possessions.  To  assure  the  defence  of  Louisiana,  it  was  decided  in 
Paris  to  build  another  establishment  near  the  indeterminate  limits 
of  New  Mexico.  Two  expeditions  went  forth  in  1720  and  1721, 
having  as  mission  to  occupy  mysterious  "St.  Bernard's  Bay."  Both 
failed  for  sundry  reasons,  foremost  among  which  was  certainly  the 
disfavour  with  which  the  Colonial  Board,  now  supported  by  Bienville, 
viewed  settlements  along  the  coast.  Saujon  complained,  on  the  23rd 
of  June,  1720,  that  Bienville  and  his  brother  Serigny  had  prevented 
him  from  seizing  St.  Joseph's  Bay,  in  Florida.  (Marine,  B4,  37,  fol. 
405.) 

News  of  the  1719  flood  contributed  to  the  decision  reached  by 
the  Company  of  the  Indies  that  work  on  New  Orleans  should  be 
suspended.  Nevertheless,  the  occupation  of  Pensacola,  and  then 
hope  of  occupying  the  vast  Texan  territories,  discovered  by  La  Salle 
in  the  previous  century,  must  have  been  the  leading  motives  for  the 
incomprehensible  desertion  of  New  Orleans  during  nearly  three 
years. 

The  illusion  that  Pensacola  might  be  retained  was  long  cher- 
ished in  Paris;  Engineer-in-Chief  LaTour  was  ordered  to  settle  at 
that  post,  according  to  the  first  instructions  drawn  up  for  him.  (B, 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  193 

42  bis,  3080  But  when,  on  the  20th  of  August,  1720,  the  order  was 
signed  for  restoring  the  place  to  the  Spanish,  the  Company,  forced 
to  fall  back  upon  the  Mississippi,  at  least  acted  promptly.  Four 
month?  later,  New  Orleans  became  the  capital  of  Louisiana. 


For  a  few  weeks  thereafter  New  Orleans  succeeded  in  meriting 
the  name  of  "burg,"  but  this  prosperity  seems  to  have  been  short- 
lived .  During  most  of  the  year  1721,  the  town  cannot  be  said 
to  have  done  more  than  manage  to  exist. 

Such  were  the  difficulties  incidental  to  navigating  the  Iberville 
River,  practically  dry  for  half  the  year,  that  all  boats  passed  through 
Bayou  St.  John. 

"This  river,"  says  an  anonymous  memoir,  "has  three  feet  and 
a  half  of  water;  boats  can  go  up  for  two  leagues,  where  there  are 
several  French  planters  and  a  store.  Merchandise  is  landed  here 
and  must  be  conveyed  by  truck  to  New  Orleans,  three  quarters  of  a 
league  distance."  (C13c,  2,  fol.  170.) 

And  yet,  no  one  dared  settle  at  New  Orleans,  for  fear  of  Hubert 
and  Le  Gac.  The  few  who  came,  left  rapidly,  like  Le  Page  du  Pratz 
and  Pellerin,  or  withdrew  to  a  respectful  distance  from  the  forbidden 
centre,  like  du  Breuil,  du  Hamel,  the  Chauvins,  etc. 

The  National  Library  preserves  a  singular  aquarelle  purporting 
to  picture  New  Orleans  at  the  end  of  January',  1720;  it  was  done  on  a 
corner  of  the  map  entitled  "Carte  nmivelle  de  la  par  tie  occidentale  de 
la  protince  de  Louisiane,"  according  to  "observations  and  discoveries 
made  by  the  Sieur  Benard  de  La  Harpe,  Commandant  on  Red 
River,"  by  the  "Sieur  de  Beauvilliers,  gentleman  serving  the  King 
and  his  engineer  in  Ordinary,  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  at 
Paris,  in  November,  1720."  (Bibl.  Nat.,  Carles,  Inv.  Gen.  1073.) 
This  sketch  is  reproduced  at  the  head  of  the  present  chapter. 

La  Harpe  was  an  excellent  observer,  M.  de  Beauvilliers  an  able 
geographer,  and  their  map  seems  remarkably  accurate,  for  the  period. 
If  their  view  of  New  Orleanss  contains  many  errors,  it  is  because 
they  represented  not  reality  but  a  mere  project.  The  drawing  shows 
the  Mississippi  Crescent,  beyond  which  Lake  Pontchartrain  is  seen 
in  the  distance,  as  if  the  canal  planned  by  La  Harpe  to  connect  the 
river  with  the  lake  had  existed  already.  Later  in  the  year,  on  the 
20th  of  December,  La  Harpe  wrote:  "Communications  may  be  made 
between  the  Mississippi  and  Lake  Pontchartrain;  there  will  be  only 
half  a  league  of  cutting  to  do."  Bienville  appears  to  have  been  a 


194  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

partisan  of  this,  for  a  while,  but  doubtless  only  to  conciliate  the  in- 
habitants of  Biloxi. 

This  view,  whose  perspective  placed  the  lake  very  near  the  river, 
could  not  but  encourage  the  Company  to  continue  work  at  Biloxi 
which  La  Harpe  strongly  championed.  The  fact  that  three  large 
stores  or  barracks,  which  existed  then  only  in  the  imagination  of 
Penicaut  and  of  La  Harpe,  were  represented  as  actually  completed, 
served  as  further  inducement  for  the  Directors  to  neglect  New 
Orleans. 

In  April,  the  Colonial  Board,  seeing  no  necessity  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  major  and  a  captain  at  that  almost  deserted  post, 
withdrew  the  appointments  of  d'Avril  and  of  Valterre,  replacing  them 
by  M.  de  Noyan,  a  mere  lieutenant.  Somewhat  later,  M.  de  Riche- 
bourg  was  nevertheless  named  as  Major,  but  refused  to  serve  under 
the  orders  of  Pailloux  who,  according  to  his  adversary  La  Mothe- 
Cadillac,  was  "a  choleric  ex-sergeant  addicted  to  maltreating  his 
men."  Richebourg  also  was  reputed  as  violent;  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1719,  the  Company  had  ordered  that  "having  insulted  Mme.  Hubert, 
he  must  give  suitable  satisfaction."  Richebourg  had  served  two  years 
as  volunteer  in  the  King's  Household,  four  years  in  the  Limoges 
Regiment,  eleven  years  as  captain,  then  as  major,  in  the  Chatillon 
dragons,  and  had  gone  to  Louisiana  in  1712. 

An  Etat  de  la  Louisiane  for  June,  1720 says:  'The  burg  of  New 
Orleans  is  situated  thirty  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, on  the  eastern  side,  There  are  stores  for  the  Company,  a 
hospital,  lodgings  for  the  governor  and  the  Director.  About  fifty 
soldiers,  seventy  clerks,  hired  men  and  convicts  drawing  wages  and 
rations  from  the  Company.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  concession- 
holders,  including  their  people,  are  waiting  for  flat-boats  to  take  them 
up  to  their  concessions." 

'There  are,  on  that  side,  forty  plantations  begun  by  invalids  (!) 
who,  to  judge  by  appearances,  will  not  make  good.  Of  these  forty 
concessions,  only  two  will  be  able  to  produce  crops  this  year:  one 
belongs  to  the  Sieur  Lery  (the  surname  of  Joseph  Chauvin)  who,  in 
March,  had  already  sowed  two  casks  of  rice;  the  other,  to  the  Sieurs 
Massy  and  Guenot,  who  have  sowed  as  much.  These  forty  planta- 
tions have  among  them  about  thirty  head  of  horned  cattle  and 
eighty  slaves,  savages  as  well  as  blacks. 

"M.  de  Bienville,  commander  of  Louisiana,  also  has  a  planta- 
tion there  (Bel  Air)  in  which  he  has  put  twenty  slaves,  blacks  and 
savages,  and  six  head  of  horned  cattle.  He  has  sowed  half  a  cask 
of  rice.  The  river,  which  overflows  almost  every  year,  is  a  cause  of 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  ofNetv  Orleans  195 

inconvenience  and  damage  to  many  houses  built  too  close  to  the 
waters.  The  burg  should  naturally  be  placed  where  the  Sieur  Hubert 
chose  his  plantation.  The  ground  is  always  dry  there,  and  the 
public  would  be  all  the  better  off,  since  it  is  accessible  from  both 
sides,  the  Mississippi  and  the  Bayou." 

Fearing  lest  caprice  might  prompt  a  few  colonists  in  distress  to 
settle  near  New  Orleans,  the  Councillors  passed  a  stringent  measure: 
"The  hundred  and  fifty  persons  who  had  been  sent  to  New  Orleans 
are  now  all  at  Biloxi,"  Le  Gac  writes.  "It  was  considered  more 
appropriate  to  provide  for  them  here  than  in  New  Orleans.  They 
could  not  be  conveyed  by  river,  because  the  flatboats  were  all  away 
and  not  expected  back  soon."  And  yet,  game  was  far  more  abundant 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi  than  near  Biloxi. 

Save  for  a  few  pirogues  and  flat-boats,  the  entire  fleet  kept  by 
the  Company  at  New  Orleans  was  limited,  even  at  the  close  of 
1720,  to  a  "sunken  brigantine."  "But,"  adds  Le  Gac,  "she  could 
be  raised,  for  there  are  no  worms  in  the  river."  Here  was  an  addi- 
tional point  in  favour  of  New  Orleans,  whereas  at  Biloxi  a  ship's 
hull  rapidly  became  a  sieve.  To  obviate  the  shortness  of  bottoms, 
and  to  avoid  a  fresh  return  of  colonists,  Bienville  caused  du  Tisne 
to  pass  through  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  in  October,  1720, 
with  a  flotilla  of  seven  flat-boats. 

Penicaut  has  little  to  say  about  New  Orleans  during  the  year 
1720;  he  rests  content  with  observing:  "They  worked  the  rest  of  the 
year,  and  made  considerable  progress."  .  Valette  de  Laudun,  who 
wrote  only  from  hearsay,  he  himself  having  never  gone  beyond 
Biloxi,  declares  in  his  Journal  d'un  voyage  fait  a  la  Louisiane  en  1720: 
"New  Orleans  is  the  first  and  most  important  of  the  posts  we  have 
here."  Nevertheless,  the  site  of  the  capital  must  have  borne  closer 
affinities  to  a  virgin  forest  than  to  a  town,  since  in  March,  1721 
Pauget  the  engineer  complained  that  he  "could  not  make  the  align- 
ments" because  there  were  too  many  bushes  and  cane-brakes. 

Work  on  the  dikes  continued,  meanwhile.  Pellerin  wrote  in 
1720  (probably  on  the  1st  of  August) :  "The  Mississippi,  overflowing 
more  or  less  for  six  months  of  the  year,  renders  New  Orleans  un- 
pleasant as  a  place  of  sojourn.  But  at  present,  a  great  many  slaves 
or  negroes  from  Guinea  are  labouring  to  make  it  habitable.  This 
may  be  effected  by  a  sound  dike  on  the  river -bank;  or  by  a  causeway 
three  or  four  toises  from  the  edge  and  running  back  a  quarter  of  a 
league  where  the  land  rises  above  inundation;  or  else  by  digging  a 
small  bayou  to  act  as  drain  in  winter.  Pirogues  from  the  Mississippi 
on  the  one  hand,  and  from  Lake  Pontchartrain  on  the  other,  could 


196  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

then  anchor  beside  the  town.  *  *  *  Ships  drawing  not  more  than 
thirteen  or  fourteen  feet  can  come  up  to  New  Orleans." 

Having  settled  in  Natchez,  Pellerin  was  a  warm  partisan  of  that 
post,  and  rejoiced  because  Hubert  had  ' 'filled  the  Natchez  stores, 
which  caused  much  discontent  at  New  Orleans,  as  if  dwellers  in 
Natchez  were  less  sons  of  the  Colony  than  those  in  New  Orleans. 
By  so  doing,  M.  the  Commissary  will  have  Natchez  established 
within  two  years,  whereas  down  the  river  it  cannot  be  done  in  six. 
Yet  the  good  things  brought  by  boat  are  consumed  down  the  river, 
and  we  don't  taste  them  except  when  they  are  no  longer  wanted 
there,  or  when  travellers  bring  them  to  us/'  (Arsenal,  Mss.  4497, 
fol.  54.) 

The  year  1720  brings  to  a  close  the  first  period  of  the  foundation 
of  New  Orleans.  The  town's  history  from  1718  to  1721  might  almost 
be  expressed  in  a  few  words,  saying  that,  helped  by  the  choice  of  a 
good  site  and  by  Bienville's  tenacity,  the  capital  of  Louisiana  con- 
centrated its  efforts  on  remaining  rooted  where  it  was,  otherwise 
passively  biding  the  time  when  its  very  enemies  should  understand 
the  brilliancy  of  the  future  awaiting  it.  During  three  years,  adversaries 
succeeded  in  completely  checking  the  development  of  New  Orleans 
but  failed  in  their  endeavour  to  transfer  it  to  the  banks  of  Lake 
Pontchartrain.  Bienville's  name  will  always  remain  deservedly 
associated  with  the  creation  of  the  great  seaport  of  the  Mississippi, 
which  he  founded  in  spite  of  everybody. 

If  New  Orleans  owes  its  existence  to  Bienville,  the  first  colonists 
have  to  thank  him  for  preserving  their  lives.  But  for  the  marvellous 
ability  which  the  "Father  of  Louisiana"  showed  in  winning  the 
friendship  of  Indian  tribes,  the  French  who  came  as  pioneers  to  settle 
along  the  Mississippi  would  all  have  been  massacred.  But  Indians 
adored  Bienville  while  fearing  him,  because  they  knew  him  to  be 
always  just,  though  often  stern. 

Bienville's  character  was  unquestionably  authoritative;  but  for 
thirty-five  years  he  displayed  in  Louisiana  all  the  energy  required 
for  the  government  of  a  new  colony  ceaselessly  torn  by  rivalries  of 
men  or  of  interests. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  New  Orleans  Bluff--The  Real  Manon--Transported  and 
Exiled--4*Princess  Charlotte"—  Mademoiselle  Baron. 


EEN  on  the  banks  of  the  Mi^i^ippi,  New  Or- 
leans was  still  nothing  more  than  a  modest  hamlet. 
But  the  town  throve  amazingly  in  reports  spread 
among  frequenters  of  the  Rue  Quincampoix.  Specu- 
lators were  even  treated  to  an  ingenious  interpre- 
tation of  the  fourtrr'quatrain  in  Nostredasmus's 
fourteenth  Century,  so  that  the  honour  of  predicting?a|  brilliant 
future  for  Louisiana  reverted  to  a  contemporary  of  de  Soto,  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Remonville: 

"Par  cinquante  a  cinq  cinq,  Lauge  sera  prospere 

L  A  V  V  Gaule 

Depuis  paroisse  Cinq-  jusqu'a  pays  lointain 

rue  Quinquempoix         Louisiane 
a  cheval  sur  cinq  paroisses. 

Commencant  Peuple  et  Roy,  sans  craindre  la  misere, 
Se  payeront  Tun  et  1'autre  et  ne  devront  plus  rien." 

After  the  collapse  of  Law's  "System,"  buyers  and  sellers,  ruined 
to  an  equal  degree,  must  have  reflected  with  bitterness  on  the  nature 
of  the  prophecy  conveyed  in  the  closing  verse. 

In  March,  1719,  the  Nouveau  Mercure,  which  a  year  before  had 
declared  Louisiana  might  become  "the  French  Peru,"  published 
an  enthusiastic  letter  from  one  Fr.  Duval,  the  author  having  gone 
over  with  the  intention  of  making  starch  "from  roots,"  found  it 
more  profitable  to  gather  and  sell  medicinal  herbs. 


198  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

"I  arrived  on  the  25th  of  last  August/'  he  writes,  *  *  *  "This 
is  a  charming  country,  where  people  are  already  beginning  to  settle. 
I  have  withdrawn  to  the  spot  where  the  capital  is  being  built,  called 
New  Orleans.  It  will  have  a  circumference  of  one  league.  *  *  * 
The  land  is  rich  with  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  lead  mines  in  different 
places.  I  wished  to  identify  myself  with  what  will  be  the  capital  of 
the  province  because  of  its  future  population,  and  its  position  as 
trading  centre  and  meeting-place  for  the  heads  of  affairs.  *  *  *  My 
land  will  have  a  front  of  three  arpents1  on  a  depth  of  forty,  and  will 
be  given  to  me  outright.  *  *  *  The  houses  are  built  plainly,  as  in 
country  districts  at  home,  and  are  covered  with  large  pieces  of  tree- 
bark  and  big  canes.  You  dress  as  you  please,  but  everything  very 
simple,  as  with  furniture.  Tapestries  and  handsome  beds  are  un- 
known. *  *  *  .  Health  is  generally  good,  and  specimens  of  fine  old 
age  are  seen." 

Eleven  months  later,  the  same  paper  announced  that  each 
family  of  colonists  would  receive  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of 
land:  'They  shall  be  given  gratis  utensils  for  each  family,  all  sorts 
of  tools  for  their  work,  and  provisions  for  one  year.  These  new 
planters  shall  be  exempt  from  all  payments  during  the  first 
three  years,  after  which  they  shall  give  to  their  lord,  whose  feoff 
shall  be  built  in  their  midst,  one  tenth  of  the  produce  of  their  lands. 
In  each  village  or  hamlet  there  shall  be  twenty  families  at  a  distance 
of  a  league  from  one  another." 

At  the  close  of  1720,  the  Nouveau  Mercure  printed  a  letter  from 
Illinois,  dated  July  8th:  "*  *  *  It  can  be  said  without  exagger- 
ation that  we  trample  treasures  underfoot,  since  we  walk  over  rich 
gold  mines."  Describing  Kaskakias,  the  writer  adds:  "In  spite  of 
continual  remonstrances  from  the  good  Fathers,  young  people  here 
are  doing  all  they  can  to  increase  the  population.  *  *  *  They  are 
accomplishing  their  duty  just  as  we  are,  for  the  Company  must  be 
highly  pleased  to  see  the  number  of  its  subjects  grow  daily." 

The  work  entitled  Relation  de  la  Louisiane  ou  Mississipy, 
"written  to  a  Lady  by  a  Naval  Officer,"  appeared  that  year.  The 
author,  an  officer  of  the  Paon,  proposed  that  the  capital  be  built  at 
English  Turn :  '  The  river's  course  flows  straight  as  far  as  this  point," 
he  writes,  "and  the  depth  is  sufficient  for  a  ship  with  eighty  guns." 
We  should  not  even  mention  this  work,  whose  interest  is  but  medi- 
ocre, if  it  had  not  given  rise  to  an  imitation  or  rather  a  forgery.  The 


*At  this  period,  the  Parisian  arpent  or  acre  was  equivalent  to  34  ares,  the  are  being  equivalent  to 
119  square  yards.  The  "woods  and  forest  arpent  was  equivalent  to  51  ares,  the  common  arpent  42  ares. 
A  decree  dated  12th  October,  1716  granted  to  each  colonist  a  concession  of  2  to  4  arpents  front,  on  40 
or  60  in  depth,  as  a  maximum." 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  ofNeiv  Orleans  199 

latter  is  a  sort  of  circular  whose  extravagance  proves  it  to  have  been 
printed  in  Rouen  at  the  expense  of  an  unscrupulous  speculator  or 
perhaps  even  of  the  Company ;  its  title  is  "Description  du  Mississipy: 
le  nombre  des  villes  etablies,  les  lies,  les  rivieres,  etc.  by  "the  Chevalier 

de  Bonrepos,  written  from  Mississippi  to  France,  to  Mademoiselle 
D  *  *  *" 

"Already,"  this  veritable  hand-book  asserts,  "the  town  named 
New  Orleans,  which  is  to  be  the  capital  of  the  Colony,  has  nearly 
eight  hundred -houses,  all  very  convenient  and  comfortable;  a  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  land  has  been  attached  to  each,  for  the  support 
of  the  family.  This  town  is  one  league  in  circumference  and  is  sit- 
uated on  the  Mississippi,  some  leagues  from  the  sea.  The  Governor 
and  the  principal  officers  of  the  Company  reside  here.  Large  stores 
have  been  built  for  merchandise  from  France  and  for  native  products 
to  be  sent  to  France  as  soon  as  the  Company's  ships  return." 

This  author  appears  to  have  borrowed  also,  with  further  a 
Derations,  from  the  Relation  concernant  Vetendue  des  ties  du  Kfissis- 
sippi  et  de  leurs  proprietes,  arec  une  explication  des  villes  que  les  Fran  fat's 
y  ont  etablies,  the  original  of  which,  or  a  contemporaneous  copy,  is 
preserved  at  the  Arsenal  Library  (Mss.  6650,  fol.  54.) 

"The  Kingdom  of  Louisiana  is  vaster  than  that  of  France,"  he 
says.  "The  Mississippi  River,  which  flows  through  its  entire  length, 
has  a  course  of  more  than  860  leagues.  *  *  *  All  sorts  of  fruit-, 
whose  savour  is  better  than  in  France,  grow  on  the  land,  though  the 
trees  are  neither  grafted  nor  cultivated.  *  *  *  Along  the  upper 
Mississippi,  the  mountains  are  full  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  and 
quick-silver  mines.  Since  the  savages  ignore  their  value,  they  sell, 
or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  barter  away,  golden  metals  which  in 
their  tongue  they  call  copper,  against  a  wood-hatchet,  or  often  for  a 
mirror  or  a  pint  of  brandy. 

"Of  late,  a  new  town  has  been  formed  which  is  to  be  the  capital 
of  Louisiana,  called  New  Orleans.  More  than  six  hundred  houses 
have  already  been  built  there  for  residents,  each  house  having  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  ground  attached  as  a  free  gift  which 
they  can  cultivate  on  their  own  account.  According  to  the  plan 
traced  for  the  town,  the  circumference  will  be  one  league;  it  is  sit- 
uated on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Since  it  is  not  far  from 
the  sea,  this  will  be  the  commercial  centre  and  the  seat  of  the  Com- 
pany's chief  officers." 

The  map  which  we  reproduce  shows  the  methods  adopted  by 
the  Company  of  the  Indies  for  selling  its  stock  and  recruiting  new 
Colonists.  Mobile  and  Pensacola  are  here  seen  to  the  west  of  the 


New  Orleans  as  seen  from  Quincampoix 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  ofNeiv  Orleans  201 

Mississippi.  Later,  the  engraving  was  reversed,  New  Orleans  and 
Florida  passed  over  to  the  east,  but  the  Espiritu  Santu  River  fol- 
lowed them. 

Carpers  were,  however,  singing  lustily: 

Le  Pays  n'est  pas  habite; 
II  sera  bientot  frequente, 
Peut-etre  dans  cent  ans  d' 
Les  mines  Von  y  fouillera, 
Car  sans  doute  on  en  trouvera, 
Si  la\iatitre  en  a  mis! 

( )i  all  the  descriptions  of  New  Orleans  written  from  a  distance, 
the  most  accurate  appears  to  be  that  of  Abbe  Prevost,  even  though 
the  town  is  not  "hidden  behind  a  small  hill  *  *  *  What  had  so  far 
been  vaunted  as  a  goodly  city  wa<  only  a  group  of  a  few  poor  cabins. 
Five  or  six  hundred  people  lived  there;  the  governor's  house  seemed 
to  be  rather  distinguished  by  its  height  and  its  location.  It  is  de- 
fended by  a  few  earthworks,  round  which  a  broad  ditch  runs." 

The  History  of  Manon  Lescaul  is  divided  into  two  parts.  The 
iii  -t ,  relating  Manon's  gallant  adventure-,  i-  laid  in  France;  the  second 
telling  of  her  moral  regeneration,  takes  place  in  New  Orleans;  the 
work  as  a  whole  will  remain  not  only  as  a  masterpiece  of  literature, 
but  as  a  faithful  picture  of  the  sort  of  women  transported  to  Louis- 
iana. (See  M.  Pierre  Heinrich's  study,  r Abbe  Prevost  et  la Louisiane") 

A  number  of  girls,  reading  the  first  part  in  1731,  may  have 
thought  themselves  the  heroine,  provided  they,  too,  were  unencum- 
bered by  principles;  but  the  resemblance  could  not  have  been  mis- 
taken for  an  identity  beyond  a  few  pages:  Manon  the  sinner  is  a 
perfect  type  of  the  Regency  courtesan,  and  can  have  no  distinct 
individuality.  The  case  is  different,  however,  with  Manon  dreaming 
of  marriage;  and  here  an  episode  which  occurred  on  one  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Islands,  the  genuine  experience  of  a  more  or  less  repentant 
and  very  vaguely  married  Magdalen,  supplied  the  theme  for  Manon's 
mock  marriage  with  Des  Grieux.  Thereby  a  difficult  literary  problem 
was  solved;  for  if  Des  Grieux  had  been  allowed  to  abandon  Manon, 
he  would  have  become  hopelessly  odious,  and  if  he  had  blindly  married 
her  he  must  have  regretted,  sooner  or  later,  an  alliance  so  offensive 
to  accepted  morals. 

Since  Prevost  was  not  yet  eighteen  and  happened  to  be  at  the 
Jesuit  Novitiate  in  Paris  when  the  real  Manon,  expelled  from  Angers, 
embarked  at  Nantes,  the  hypothesis  maintained  by  Ars£ne  Houssaye, 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  203 

Henry  Harrisse,  and  various  authors,  that  the  Abbe  had  confessed 
a  love-story  of  his  youth,  must  be  definitely  set  aside.  Even  if  his 
heroine  had  managed  to  return  to  France  as  she  intended,  in  1715, 
it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  met  her. 

Manon  Lescaut  having  been  first  printed  in  Amsterdam  in 
1731,  the  name  may  have  been  suggested  to  Prevost  by  his  stay  in 
the  Low  countries.  But,  strnmrely  enough,  the  names  which  con- 
stantly recur  in  Manon  are  taken  from  life,  although  the  characters 
do  not  correspond  to  the  originals.  This  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  Tiberge  and  the  Chevalier  Des  Grieux  were  the  ones  to  tell 
Abbe  Prevost  the  misfortunes  of  Avril  de  La  Varenne  and  his  com- 
panion, the  "Demoiselle"  Froget.  Indeed,  worthy  Tiberge  can  with 
much  likelihood  be  identified  as  Louis  Tiberge,  Abbe  of  Andrew, 
Director  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Seminary;  he  died  on  the  9th  of 
October,  1730,  a  very  short  time  after  Prevost  had  begun  his  seventh 
volume.  The  \ottveau  Dictionnaire  -  Historique,  the  first  edition 
of  which  appeared  in  1765  and  the  sixth  in  1786,  says  under  the 
name  Tiberge:  "It  i-  this  pious  priest  who  plays  so  touching  a  part 
in  the  story  of  the  love  of  the  Chevalier  Des  Grieux"  Anatole  de 
Montaiglon  has  reached  the  same  conclusion.  (Manon  Lescaut, 
Paris,  1875.)  We  may  add  that  Abb£  Tiberge,  having  often  had  to 
deal  with  ecclesiastical  matters  in  Louisiana,  must  certainly  have 
known  of  the  differences  which  brought  Manon  and  her  cure  into 
conflict,  prompting  their  reciprocal  complaints  before  the  Marine 
Board. 

Could  it,  however,  be  by  a  second  coincidence  that  Des  Grieux 
should  bear  the  same  name  as  the  Captain  of  the  Comte  de  Toulouse, 
a  ship  which  made  several  voyages  to  Louisiana  and  notably  con- 
el,  in  1718,  a  considerable  number  of  deported  girls  to  Biloxi? 
We  think  not.  F.ven  though  Captain  Des  Grieux  may  not  have  met 
Manon,  he  had  certainly  heard  of  her  adventures. 

Several  unpublished  documents,  found  in  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine,  enable  us  to  identify,  for  the  first  time,  four 
other  characters  in  Manon  Lescaut. 

The  "Chaplain  of  New  Orleans"  was  none  other  than  the  mis- 
sionary Le  Maire.  Cure  of  Dauphin  Island;  Manon's  alleged  husband, 
ex-captain  of  the  Champagne  Regiment,  was  known  in  America  as 
Avril  de  la  Varenne;  the  celebrated  courtesan  herself  was  called 
Froget,  and  surnamed  Quantin;  and  the  "Governor  of  Louisiana" 
was  La  Mothe-Cadillac. 

The  character  of  Synnelet,  and  the  part  attributed  to  his  uncle 
in  the  novel,  seem  to  be  inventions.  We  had  no  reasons  to  believe 


204  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

that  Cadillac  had  a  nephew  with  him.  His  son,  the  Lieutenant,  was 
hot-tempered,  and  one  day,  together  with  Ensign  Terrisse  de  Ternin, 
gave  six  sword  thrusts  to  Benoist  de  Sainte-Clair.  But  there  is  no 
evidence  that  young  Cadillac  ever  loved  Manon;  and  the  Governor's 
relentless  pursuit  of  the  coquette  cannot  be  advanced  in  support  of 
the  theory.  Judging  by  his  letters,  La  Mothe-Cadillac  had  never 
tolerated  loose  morals,  and  pitilessly  denounced  all  women  who  mis- 
behaved in  the  absence  of  their  husbands. 

Nevertheless,  the  idea  of  Des  Grieux's  duel  may  have  been 
suggested  to  Abbe  Prevost  by  the  challenge  which  Raujon,  champion 
of  Manon' s  honour,  purposed  to  send  to  Mandeville  who  had  cast 
aspersions  on  her.  But  although  Raujon  played  so  far  the  part  at- 
tributed later  to  Synnelet,  Raujon  was  far  from  seeking  to  kill  the 
original  Des  Grieux;  he  wished,  on  the  contrary,  to  defend  the  good 
name  of  his  friend's  wife,  who  had  become  his  faithful  accountant. 

,  The  name  of  Avril  de  La  Varenne  is  not  mentioned  in  any 
of  the  armorial  lists  of  Anjou.  Hence  a  mystery  subsisted  until  we 
discovered  that  Pierre  du  Tremblier,  Sieur  de  La  Varenne,  Counsellor 
of  the  Angers  Presidial,  had  married  Mademoiselle  Avril  de  Louzil. 
Another  Tremblier  de  La  Varenne,  Charles  Claude,  had  married 
Marie  Renee  Avril  in  1697;  but  this  branch  does  not  appear  to  have 
lived  in  Angers.  When  Manon's  brother  broke  with  his  family,  he 
evidently  chose  a  new  name  by  combining  those  of  his  father  and 
mother.  We  know  that  his  father  died  in  1704.  To  judge  by  the  age 
which  Avril  de  la  Varenne  gave  himself  in  1715,  and  by  the  researches 
which  M.  Benoit,  head  clerk  of  the  Archives  of  Maine-et-Loire, 
kindly  made  on  our  behalf  in  the  parish  registers  of  Angers,  we  may 
conclude  that  Abbe  Prevost's  hero  was  born  at  Angers  in  November, 
1685,  and  was  christened  Rene.  A  commune  of  Maine-et-Loire  bears 
his  name  today,  St. -Remy-La- Varenne.  We  may  add  that  the  La 
Varenne  Manor  was  situated  in  the  parish  of  St.  Remy. 

Here  is  his  baptismal  record,  from  the  parish  of  St.  Maurille: 

"The  eleventh  of  November,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  was  baptised  Rene,  son  of  Mons  Mre  Pierre  du  Tremblier, 
esquire,  Seigneur  de  La  Varenne,  King's  Counsellor,  Judge  Magis- 
trate at  the  Preal  Seat  of  Angers,  and  of  Dame  Magdelaine  Avril, 
his  wife.  Was  Godfather,  Monsieur  Maistre  Rene  Trochon,  King's 
Counsellor,  civil  and  criminal  Provost  Judge  of  that  town.  God- 
mother, Dame  Renee  Tremblier,  wife  of  Francois  Avril,  Esquire, 
Seigneur  of  Pignerolles. 

"Trochon,  Renee  du  Tremblier,  P.  du  Tremblier,  de  Pigne- 
rolle  Avril." 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  205 

La  Varenne  and  his  companion  embarked  at  Nantes  on  the 
Dauphine,  commanded  by  Captain  Beranger.  She  was  a  flute  of  so 
modest  tonnage,  that  only  part  of  her  cargo  could  be  taken  aboard; 
she  had  arrived  from  Holland  on  the  8th  of  December,  1714;  but  ice, 
and  then  a  succession  of  adverse  winds,  detained  her  for  three  months 
on  the  Loire,  so  that  many  soldiers  and  men  enlisted  in  the  Company's 
service  deserted.  Finally  she  sailed  on  the  6th  of  March,  1715,  for 
Biloxi,  stopping  at  La  Rochelle  and  at  the  Canaries  to  take  on  wine. 

The  voluminous  correspondence  of  M.  de  Luzangay,  Ordinator 
of  Nantes,  makes  no  reference  to  the  lovers,  although  he  mentions 
all  sorts  of  incidents  which  occurred  among  the  passengers  on  the 
Dauphine.  Here  are  two  typical  examples: 

There  was  a  young  architect  who  wished  to  go  and  make  his 
fortune  in  America;  but  his  family  purchased  his  release  from  Cap- 
tain Mandeville,  whereupon  Manon's  enemy  immediately  forced 
this  "excellent  and  clever  subject"  to  land,  in  spite  of  his  own  pro- 
tests and  those  of  Luzangay. 

Lieutenant  La  Tour,  a  cousin  of  Bienville,  operated  with  even 
greater  success.  He  began  by  receiving  six  hundred  livres  from  a 
Counsellor  of  the  Tours  Presidial  for  enlisting  the  said  counsellor's 
son,  who  had  been  interned  for  four  years  at  St.  Lazare;  then  he 
sold  a  full  release  to  the  hardened  young  libertine,  in  exchange  for  a 
good  round  sum.  The  Counsellor  had  made  the  mistake  of  giving 
his  son  too  much  money  to  begin  with,  as  an  inducement  for  leaving; 
the  Minister  would  not  allow  him  to  be  embarked  "unless  he  con- 
sented with  good  will".  The  end  of  it  was  that  the  libertine,  who  is 
described  as  being  "very  well-mannered,  but  according  to  several 
worthy  people,  capable  of  dishonouring  his  family/'  consented  to 
embark  on  the  Dauphine  after  the  family  had  guaranteed  him  "an 
honest  pension"  and  paid  four  thousand  livres  of  "mad  expenses"  he 
had  incurred  during  six  weeks  at  Nantes.  As  for  Lieutenant  La  Tour 
himself,  we  may  add  that  he  had  no  sooner  landed  than  he  was 
married,  in  spite  of  Cadillac's  remonstrances.  We  learn,  from  the 
Governor's  remarks,  that  "one  cow,  six  barrels  of  sweet  potatoes,  six 
barrels  of  maize,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  pumpkins"  was  then 
considered  a  tempting  dower  on  Dauphin  Island,  even  for  a  dis- 
graced widow. 

Luzangay's  discretion  concerning  Avril  de  La  Varenne  and  his 
companion  may  be  explained  either  by  the  Ordinator's  wish  not  to 
displease  Raujon,  Crozat's  representative  and  Manon's  protector, 
or  by  the  fact  that  he  lived  on  very  bad  terms  with  the  Nantes  clergy, 
who  forbade,  reporting  on  deserters. 


206  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Raujon  states  that  his  mother  and  Manon  came  from  the  same 
town,  but  unfortunately  he  neglects  to  mention  the  name.  So 
nothing  can  now  furnish  us  with  a  clue  to  the  birth  records  of  the 
pretty  girl  whose  pictured  death  has  caused  so  many  tears  to  be 
shed.  Was  Froget  her  family  name,  and  Quantin  an  assumed  name 
or  else  the  patronymic  of  some  lover  rather  more  constant  than  the 
rest?  We  are  reduced  to  mere  hypotheses.  Given  a  little  imagina- 
tion, we  may  fancy,  as  we  shall  see  further  on,  that  traces  of  Manon 
are  to  be  found  after  her  return  to  France.  But  we  hold  no  clue  to 
her  youthful  adventures,  we  do  not  even  know  whether  La  Varenne 
met  her  at  Angers  or  in  some  garrison  town.  It  is,  however,  note- 
worthy that  in  1711  the  Champagne  Regiment  went  into  winter 
quarters  at  Amiens,  the  town  chosen  by  Abbe  Prevost  for  Des  Grieux's 
meeting  with  Manon. 

In  his  sequel  to  Manon's  story  (Suite  de  Vhistoire  du  Chevalier 
Des  Grieux  et  de  ManonLescaui],  Courcelle  mentions  Dijon  as  Manon's 
birthplace.  But  the  author  of  that  insipid  novel  certainly  did  not 
know  Manon  had  lived.  The  details  given  about  the  Des  Grieux 
family  do  not  apply  to  the  Trembliers,  and  the  information  he  pre- 
tends to  convey  on  the  subject  of  Manon's  relations  is  absolutely 
incredible.  Manon,  buried  alive,  comes  to  life  again,  manages  to 
escape,  returns  to  France  with  the  love-sick  chaplain,  who  discovers, 
luckily  in  good  time,  that  he  is  her  uncle.  About  to  take  the  veil  at 
Marseilles,  Manon  finds  Des  Grieux  once  more,  after  thinking  him 
unfaithful;  and  marries  him  as  conclusion  to  many  further  adven- 
tures. 

The  Dauphine  must  have  reached  Dauphin  Island  in  May, 

1715,  and  the  "scandal"  broke  out  in  August. 

"I  have  the  honour  to  inform  you,  Monseigneur,  that  a  young 
man  of  good  position,  called  Avril  de  La  Varenne,  from  Angers,  is 
here, "La  Mothe-Cadillac  wrote  in  his  despatch  of  the  2nd  of  January, 

1716,  which  date  indicates,  as  usual,  the  day  when  the  mail  was  to 
leave.     "He  brought  with  him  in  the  flute  La  Dauphine  a  woman 
who  is  said  to  have  been  married,  and  who  may  still  be  married, 
having  left  three  children  in  France.    At  first  she  bore  the  name  of 
Froget,  and  now  she  calls  herself  Quantin,  and  claims  to  have  married 
the  Sieur  de  La  Varenne,  which  is  confirmed  by  M.  Raujon,  manager 
for  M.  Crozat. 

"Nevertheless  it  is  known  from  divers  sources  that  this  is  false, 
that  she  is  a  woman  of  irregular  morals,  who  having  been  driven 
from  Angers,  withdrew  to  Nantes;  learning  which,  the  Bishop  of 
Angers  wrote  to  the  Cure  of  St.  Nicholas  in  Nantes,  who  went  with 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  207 

two  priests  to  get  the  said  woman  and  have  her  locked  up.  Then  it 
was  that  the  said  Sieur  Raujon  caused  her  to  escape  aboard  the  flute 
La  Dauphine.  The  Cure,  knowing  this,  appealed  to  the  Sieur  de 
Mandeville,  the  senior  officer  of  the  ship,  begging  him  to  write  to 
your  Greatness,  and  handed  him,  in  the  presence  of  the  Sieur  La 
Tour,  a  certificate  testifying  that  this  was  a  scandalous  woman,  who 
had  seduced  the  Sieur  de  La  Varenne,  provoking  much  displeasure 
among  his  relations. 

"It  must  be  admitted  that,  as  soon  as  the  flute  had  arrived,  the 
said  Sieur  Raujon,  fitted  out  a  pirogue  with  goods  and  sent  off  the 
said  Sieur  de  La  Varenne1,  on  a  trading  expedition,  while  he  lodged 
the  woman  at  fifteen  paces  from  his  store,  making  over  to  her  all  the 
detail  sales  in  the  said  store,  with  a  commission  of  five  per  cent. 
This  woman  is  ignorant  of  arithmetic  and  can  scarcely  write;  so  that 
each  night,  when  doors  and  windows  are  closed,  it  is  asserted  the 
Sieur  Raujon  questions  her  about  the  sales  and  gives  her  lessons  in 
addition.  I  believe  the  public  scandal,  which  Raujon  is  alleged  to 
have  caused,  is  based  upon  this,  beyond  his  other  attentions.  It  is 
furthermore  true  that,  owing  to  a  custom  whose  origin  I  ignore,  the 
said  woman  is  now  called  Mme.  Raujon.2  The  apparent  reason  is 
the  absence  of  the  Sieur  de  La  Varenne. 

"Messrs,  the  priests  assure  me  that  they  have  often  privately 
admonished  the  Sieur  Raujon  and  the  Quantin  Woman,  but  perceiv- 
ing that  they  continue  to  frequent  each  other,  as  before,  the  Cur6 
of  Dauphin  Island  wrote  to  both  individually.  Upon  this  the  Sieur 
Raujon  answered  very  sharply  and,  to  my  thinking,  very  passion- 
ately, taking  up  the  defence  of  this  woman.  It  is  true  that  he  appears 
to  have  charitable  sentiments  towards  her,  for  he  states  in  the  said 
letter  that  if  he  has  come  to  her  assistance,  it  is  because  his  mother 
knew  the  family  of  the  said  Quantin,  and  came  from  the  same  town. 

"I  cannot  approve  his  conduct  in  making  several  copies  of  his 
letter  and  sending  them  in  different  directions  to  be  read  publicly. 
This  did  not  produce  the  effect  on  which  he  had  counted.  The 
woman  afterwards  sent  me  a  petition  against  the  Cure  of  Dauphin 
Island,  to  retrieve  her  honour;  I  sent  a  copy  to  your  Greatness. 
She  declares  herself  to  be  the  wife  of  the  said  Sieur  de  la  Varenne, 
and  yet  she  almost  acknowledges  in  her  text  that  they  came  to 
this  country  expecting  to  be  married,  which  establishes  clearly 
that  no  ceremony  had  been  performed  between  herself  and  the  Sieur 


»La  Varenne  left  for  Illinois  with  the  two  La  Loire  brothers,  and  Raujon's  son. 

'Rauion  was  married,  but  his  wife  had  remained  in  France.  On  the  last  of  October.  1717,  the 
Company  of  the  West  instructed  Bonnaud  to  dismiss  him  as  soon  as  he  landed.  A  year  later,  Larce- 
bault  was  ordered  to  "hold  the  Sieur  Raujon  in  prison  until  his  accounts  were  handed  in  and  audited." 


208  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

de  La  Varenne.  But  none  came  forward  to  plead  for  her;  further- 
more, the  Board  could  not  act,  the  affair  being  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Bishop  and  his  ecclesiastical  judge. 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  smartest  people  in  the  Colony  cry 
aloud  that  the  marriage  was  valid,  and  encourage  this  belief  in  the 
woman  and  in  the  Sieur  Raujon.  The  said  Cure  has  written  me 
a  letter  on  the  subject,  a  copy  of  which  I  also  sent  to  Your  Great- 
ness. The  Sieur  Raujon,  in  his  letter  to  the  said  Cure  which  was 
made  public,  as  I  have  stated,  heaps  insults  upon  the  Sieur  de  Mande- 
ville;  but  having  foreseen  what  might  occur,  I  forbade  the  latter  to 
use  violence.  Since  he  submitted,  I  consented  to  receive  his  com- 
plaint, the  original  of  which  I  have  the  honour  to  send  you,  together 
with  a  copy  of  the  Sieur  de  La  Tour's  certificate. 

"I  have  not  been  able  to  do  justice  to  the  said  Sieur  de  Mande- 
ville,  without  imperilling  M.  Crozat's  interests,  owing  to  the  posi- 
tion held  by  the  Sieur  Raujon.  Last  of  all,  Monseigneur,  I  consider 
it  intolerable  that  the  said  Sieur  Raujon  should  call  an  officer,  in 
writing,  a  knave  and  a  scoundrel,  for  having  spoken  here  about  this 
young  woman's  conduct,  but  without  saying  a  single  word  of  the 
Sieur  Raujon.  I  have  promised  him  I  would  write  to  you,  so  that  he 
might  receive  suitable  satisfaction."  (Colonies,  C.  13  a,  4,  fol.  527.) 

A  month  later,  Cadillac  renews  his  lament:  "I  learn  today, 
Monseigneur,  from  the  residents,  that  the  Sieur  Raujon,  visiting 
M.  Duclos  (the  Ordinator),  sent  notes  among  them  to  take  their 
statement  against  M.  Le  Maire,  Cure  of  Dauphin  Island,  concerning 
the  scandal  he  has  raised  with  the  alleged  dame  La  Varenne.  Some 
of  the  residents  told  me  that  they  had  signed  as  he  asked  them  to  do, 
not  wishing  to  vex  him  because  they  need  him  and  he  would  send 
them  packing  when  they  came  to  ask  for  anything  they  needed. 
Such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Sieur  Raujon  is  unquestionable 
proof,  Monseigneur,  of  his  passion  for  this  woman  and  of  his  blind- 
ness; he  is  aware  that  the  Cure  attacked  the  dame  La  Varenne  as 
being  a  concubine,  since  she  was  not  married  by  her  cure,  nor  by  any 
other  priest  having  a  dispensation  from  her  Bishop,  nor  by  consent 
of  the  said  Sieur  de  La  Varenne's  family,  and  since  the  certificate 
which  she  shows  bears  an  unknown  and  apparently  fictitious  name. 
At  all  events,  the  Cure  and  I  are  forced  to  this  conclusion  since,  by 
their  own  admission  they  were  not  married  with  proper  formalities. 
Can  it  be  that  a  woman  who  has  led  an  evil  life  in  France  should 
continue  in  the  same  way  over  here?"  (Colonies,  C13a,  5,  fol.,  578.) 

The  Archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Colonies  contain  no  further 
reference  to  this  dispute.  But  in  a  register  of  Extracts  from  the 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  209 

Deliberations  of  the  Marine  Board  (Marine,  B.,  9,  fol.,  287)  the  fol- 
lowing annotations  are  appended,  under  date  of  the  29th  of  August, 
1716,  to  a  summary  of  La  Mothe-Cadillac's  complaint. 

"*  *  *  This  has  given  rise  to  divers  complaints  in  writing, 
herewith  appended,  against  the  Sieur  Raujon,  that  woman  and  the 
Sieur  de  Mandeville;  the  last  asks  for  justice  because  the  Sieur 
Raujon  called  him  a  knave  and  a  scoundrel,  in  his  reply  to  the  said 
Cure,  for  having  produced  a  certificate  which  the  cure  of  St.  Nicho- 
las in  Nantes  had  given  to  prevent  that  woman  from  taking  ship, 
not  being  married  to  the  said  Sieur  de  La  Varenne  as  she  pretended: 

"The  Sieur  de  La  Varenne  complains  that  during  a  voyage  he 
made  to  Illinois,  M.  de  La  Mothe  arranged  with  a  missionary  to 
write  letters  both  libelling  his  wife  and  insulting  him.  He  is  a  gentle- 
man and  his  wife  is  a  lady;  he  was  a  captain  in  the  Champagne 
Regiment,  with  which  he  served  twelve  years;  he  went  to  that  country 
only  to  avoid  the  annoyances  his  family  could  cause  him  for  being 
clandestinely  married  before  reaching  his  majority1,  which  he  will 
attain  in  two  months,  and  intends  then  to  be  married  again  accord- 
ing to  the  regulations  in  that  country.  But  the  missionaries  being 
warned  against  him,  he  wished  to  return  to  France,  and  asked  that 
the  governor  should  not  refuse  permission. 

"M.  Raujon  complains  against  M.  de  la  Mothe,  Mandeville, 
and  Le  Maire  the  Missionary,  because  of  calumnies  they  have  spread 
and  written  concerning  the  Dame  de  La  Varenne  and  himself. 

"He  sends  a  satirical  fable  which  the  said  Le  Maire  has  written 
against  him,  and  thinks  it  deserves  a  reprimand." 

On  the  margin,  the  following  decision  is  noted:  "This  man 
cannot  be  prevented  from  returning  to  France  with  his  wife;  as  for 
the  quarrel  between  Raujon  and  Mandeville,  send  to  M.  de  1'Epinay, 
so  he  may  settle  it  when  he  is  on  the  spot."  Two  months  later  the 
new  Governor  accordingly  received  instructions:  "The  Sieur  Raujon, 
business  agent  for  M.  Crozat,  has  had  several  dissensions  with  the 
Sieur  Mandeville,  Captain.  Have  a  care,  when  you  come  on  the 
spot,  to  receive  an  account  of  their  differences  and  to  settle  them." 

Though  we  find  records  of  very  energetic  attacks  upon  Manon, 
the  memoirs  presented  in  her  defence  are  either  lost  or  else  condensed 
in  a  few  lines.  We  must  therefore  pause  before  condemning  her; 
and  to  remain  impartial,  we  should  remember  that  all  three  of  her 


»This  was  the  thirty-year  majority.  According  to  the  Commentaires  stir  Us  coutumes  de  Maine 
et  tTAnjou,  "the  ordinances  forbidding  children  of  good  family  to  marry  without  the  consent  of  their 
fathet  and  mother  before  the  age  of  thirty,  merely  pronounce  the  pain  of  disinheritance  and  do  not 
declare  such  marriage  to  be  null."  From  the  ecclesiastical  point  of  view,  everything  depended  upon  the 
powers  of  the  priest  supposed  to  have  married  them. 


210  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

chief  enemies  were  afflicted  with  violent  tempers.  Abbe  Fay,  who 
accompanied  Manon  on  her  voyage,  complained  to  the  Marine  Board 
about  Mandeville's  brutalities,  and  states  that  it  caused  "half  the 
sailors  and  troops  to  desert"  at  San  Domingo.  (Marine,  B',  9,  fol., 
385).  As  for  the  virtuous  understanding  between  the  Governor 
and  the  Missionary,  it  was  not  of  long  duration;  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1717,  Le  Maire  wrote:  "The  small  being  led  on  by  the  example  of 
the  great,  and  the  great  being  unable  to  repress  the  disorders  of  the 
small  when  they  themselves  have  shared  in  them,  this  entire  Colony 
is  a  veritable  Babylon."  Then,  after  volubly  denouncing  "the 
crying  injustice  of  Sieur  de  La  Mothe,"  he  adds,  "This  man  without 
faith,  without  scruple,  without  religion,  without  honour,  without 
conscience,  is  capable  of  devising  the  blackest  calumnies  against  those 
who  do  not  partake  of  his  passions."  (Bibli.,  Nat.,  Mss.  Fr.  12, 
105.) 

The  portrait  here  sketched  is  very  unfair,  but  is  a  regrettably 
typical  specimen  of  the  sort  of  literature  once  prevalent  in  the  French 
Colonies.  It  goes  simply  to  prove  that  the  "Parisian  Missionary," 
as  he  called  himself,  felt  the  sun's  heat  as  well  as  Cadillac  the  Gascon. 

Perhaps  one  day  a  seeker  may  be  fortunate  enough  to  discover 
Le  Maire' s  "satirical  fable."  Did  the  author  have  any  presenti- 
ment that  the  romance  of  his  too  attractive  parishioner  would  one 
day  spread  abroad  the  fame  of  New  Orleans,  a  place  which  he  hated 
before  it  was  even  founded? 

The  La  Varennes  may  have  turned  to  advantage  the  hostility 
felt  in  Paris  against  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  who  had  been  revoked. 
La  Tour,  arrested  by  Cadillac's  order,  had  not  merely  broken  his 
sword  rather  than  yield  it  up,  but  had  threatened  the  Governor  with 
a  caning;  he  was  finally  upheld  by  the  Marine  Board.  One  thing  is 
certain  in  connection  with  Manon:  the  Board  considered  her  to  be  a 
married  woman. 

We  may  now  wonder  what  became  of  La  Varenne  and  his  com- 
panion, since  they  do  not  appear  to  have  remained  in  Louisiana. 
Did  they  perish  on  the  unhealthy  and  inhospitable  shores  of  the 
Islands?  Or  did  they  make  up  their  minds  to  return  to  France? 

At  that  period  the  name  of  La  Varenne  was  quite  common; 
and  Manon  cannot  be  definitely  identified  with  any  of  the  four  or 
five  La  Varennes  imprisoned  between  1719  and  1740,  for  lax  morals, 
or  for  keeping  houses  of  ill  repute.  Nevertheless,  some  singular 
coincidences  may  be  observed. 

In  1719,  two  women  calling  themselves  La  Varenne  and  Du 
Plessis  lived  in  the  rue  de  la  Cle;  the  second  occasionally  played 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  211 

the  part  of  mother  or  aunt  to  the  first.  According  to  police  reports, 
"their  lives  were  a  veritable  mystery."  Public  rumour,  and  the 
clergy  of  St.  Medard,  agreed  to  reproach  them  with  leading  a  'Very 
suspicious  and  equivocal  existence,"  in  a  house  having  two  exits, 
" where  young  people  of  both  sexes  were  debauched.  *  *  *  During 
the  whole  of  Lent,  they  held  daily  carnivals." 

Their  unusual  cleverness  in  securing  all  sorts  of  goods  on  credit 
was,  however,  the  true  reason  for  the  denunciations  filed  against 
them.  The  righteous  indignation  of  half  a  dozen  tradesmen  pro- 
testing against  "such  infamous  practices"  seemed  to  be  so  interesting 
that  M.  De  Machault  was  content,  on  the  2nd  of  September,  with 
instructing  Inspector  de  1'Anglade  "to  bring  the  two  women  before 
him,  some  morning,  in  his  office." 

Both  of  them  categorically  refused  to  go,  and  vanished  upon 
learning  that  an  order  for  their  arrest  had  been  signed  on  the  19th  of 
October.  Five  weeks  later,  they  were  apprehended  and  taken  to  the 
Salpetriere. 

All  the  records  of  the  case  (Arsenal,  10,  658)  suffered  severely 
in  the  sacking  of  the  Bastille,  and  still  bear  stains  from  the  drinking- 
bouts  of  the  heroes  of  July.  The  interrogatory  of  the  La  Varenne 
woman  is  missing,  but  that  of  Du  Plessis  replaces  it  in  part.  After 
declaring  her  real  name  to  be  Anique  de  Bejamen,  and  acknowledg- 
ing that  she  was  only  the  "mother  in  friendship"  of  her  companion,  Du 
Plessis  stated  that  her  friend,  whose  real  name  was  Marie  Anne 
Domisy,"  "had  had  three  children  and  been  married  to  a  gentleman 
who  had  deceived  her,  having  another  wife,  but  her  marriage  was 
clandestine." 

5k)  that  Marie  Anne  Domisy,  born  at  St.  Quentin,  where  her 
mother  was  still  a  linen-merchant,  had  three  children  and  had  been 
secretly  married,  like  Manon,  surnamed  Quantin,  or  la  Quentin." 

Ten  years  later,  a  certain  Marie  Anne  de  La  Varenne,  "who 
kept  a  house  of  debauch,"  was  incarcerated  on  the  petition  of  the 
same  1'Anglade.  But  the  Inspector  soon  recognized  that  he  had  made 
a  mistake,  for  the  prisoner  was  not  "the  very  dangerous  Jeanneton 
Chopin"  whom  he  had  sought.  As  an  apology,  he  explained  that 
"this  sort  of  woman  takes  on  thirty  names."  (Arsenal,  II,  056.) 

In  1722,  Marie  Dosarbre,  passing  as  the  daughter  of  a  Councillor 
at  the  Thiers  Presidial,  and  married  to  one  Andre  de  La  Varenne, 
ex-Captain  of  Infantry,  was  likewise  arrested  for  having  served  meals 
with  meat  and  provided  for  gambling  in  Holy  Week,  besides  creating 
a  scandal  during  the  Corpus  Christi  procession.  Although  she  lived 
with  an  ex-officer,  M.  de  St.  Paul,  her  husband  demanded  and  prompt- 


212  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

ly  obtained  her  release.  (Arsenal,  10,  768).  According  to  police 
reports,  she  had  been  driven  away  from  Lyon,  because  of  ill-conduct, 
and  exiled  in  Thiers.  Since  the  police  themselves  were  unable  to 
disentangle  the  facts  among  all  these  women  called  La  Varenne,  we 
can  scarcely  hope  for  better  success  at  this  late  day. 

Nor  are  such  archives  exactly  pleasing.  Let  us  rather  feel  with 
Alexandre  Dumas  fils,  "Manon,  you  must  die  in  all  ^our  beauty, 
at  the  height  of  your  love,  if  we  are  to  sing  your  praises.  When  you 
persist  in  living,  you  become  a  nuisance!"  At  least,  no  enemy  has 
been  able  to  dim  your  glory  as  a  lover  regenerated  by  a  tender  pas- 
sion; no  dust-covered  paper  shall  prevent  us  from  believing  that  you 
died  at  your  appointed  time,  and  now  lie  in  your  last  sleep  among 
the  cypresses  of  Louisiana. 


Speaking  of  American  Manons,  here  are  some  unpublished 
records  which  throw  an  interesting  light  on  Louisiana's  first  French 
nuns  and  the  young  girls  they  brought  over  with  them.  Alas!  the 
opinion  seems  long  to  have  been  held  in  Paris  that  the  uglier  these 
orphans  were,  the  better  they  would  behave. 

In  a  memoir  sent  by  Hubert,  in  June  1718,  we  read: 

"Extract  from  the  Memoir  of  Marie  Frangoise  de  Boisrenaud, 
who  makes  known  that  the  King  having  sent,  in  1703,  twenty-three 
girls  to  start  the  Louisiana  establishment,  she  was  selected  and 
accordingly  withdrawn  from  the  Convent  of  the  Annunciation.  Mme 
de  Montespan,  who  had  brought  her  from  the  Abbaye  de  Fonte- 
vrault,  had  placed  her  for  a  long  while  in  her  Convent  of  St.  Joseph 
to  direct  it  and  become  its  Superior.  To  carry  out  the  King's  in- 
structions and  govern  the  girls  entrusted  to  her,  she  risked  her 
reputation,  and  her  fatigue  was  great  during  the  six  months  they  all 
spent  in  Rochefort  at  the  Orphan's  Hospital.  Since  then,  all  these 
girls  having  been  married  in  Louisiana,  she  has  devoted  herself  to 
teaching  savage  women,  attending  to  their  baptism  and  to  settling 
them  in  life;  and  she  continues  to  give  lessons  to  planters'  daughters, 
showing  them  what  they  are  capable  of  learning. 

"Being  overwhelmed  by  infirmities  and  unable  to  assure  her 
care  any  longer,  she  implores  the  Board  to  provide  for  her  retreat  in 
France,  where  she  may  more  quietly  await  death." 

On  the  margin  is  written:  "Verify  if  this  girl  is  paid  or  receiving 
any  retribution  for  the  work  she  does  in  this  colony,  and  make 
mention  of  it  for  the  first  time."  (Marine,  B',  30,  fol.  429).  During 
several  years  the  Marine  Board  discussed,  without  finding  a  solution, 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  213 

the  question  as  to  whether  women  should  still  be  sent  to  Louisiana, 
or  whether  it  might  not  be  simpler  to  authorise  the  marriage  of 
Frenchmen  with  Indians,  as  Cure  La  Vente  proposed.  In  1716, 
after  consulting  the  Superior  of  the  Foreign  Missions,  who  replied 
that,  while  not  opposing  the  measure,  he  had  apprehensions  as  to 
this  mixture  of  good  and  bad  blood,"  the  Board  adopted  Duclos's 
conclusions  that  savage  women  "being  too  dissolute  and  very  bad 
Christians,  the  children  would  be  too  dark-skinned,  very  dissolute, 
and  even  more  dishonest."  Accordingly,  such  marriages  were  pro- 
hibited, and  the  decision  followed  that  wives  should  be  sent  to  the 
Mississippi  colonists. 

But  in  spite  of  the  excellent  decree  dated  the  12th  of  June,  1720, 
the  Company  of  the  Indies  did  not  always  exercise  sufficient  care  in 
its  selection  of  housewives  for  Louisiana.  From  a  letter  dated  the 
25th  of  April,  1721,  signed  by  Bienville  and  Delorme,  we  learn: 

"Eighty-eight  girls  arrived  by  "La  Baleine"  Since  the  4th  of 
March,  nineteen  have  been  married  off.  From  those  who  came  by 
"Le  Chameau"  and  "La  Mutine"!  ten  have  died.  So  that  fifty-nine 
are  still  to  be  provided  for.  This  will  be  difficult,  as  these  girls  were 
not  well  selected.  Could  they  possibly,  in  so  short  a  time,  have 
changed  to  such  an  extent?  Whatever  the  vigilance  exercised  upon 
them,  they  could  not  be  restrained.  Among  the  three  Directresses 
responsible  for  their  conduct,  two  have  occasioned  complaints. 
Sister  Gertrude  is  ill-natured,  she  rules  sourly  and  capriciously,  and 
has  been  guilty  of  a  prank,  which  has  cost  her  the  respect  of  the  girls 
themselves.  Sister  Marie  has  none  of  the  talents  required  for  such 
responsibilities.  Sister  Saint-Louis  has  been  retained,  having  a  very 
good  character,  but  the  others  were  sent  away." 

Sister  Gertrude  had  been  instructed  by  the  Company  to  "watch 
over  the  behaviour  of  the  young  girls  reared  at  the  General  hospital 
and  having  gone  voluntarily  to  Louisiana;  to  inspire  them  in  retain- 
ing the  sentiments  of  piety  and  good  conduct  which  they  had  been 
taught;  and  to  do  generally  everything  she  may  judge  needful  and 
appropriate  for  preserving  the  said  girls  in  the  purity  of  their  honour 
and  for  making  them  attentive  to  those  duties  which  lead  towards 
salvation."  (Colonies,  B,  42  bis.  fol.,  376).  Simultaneously,  the 
Company  despatched  to  Louisiana  a  head  midwife,  Mme.  Doville, 
with  a  salary  of  four  hundred  livres.  The  first  matron  sent  to  Biloxi 
was  nicknamed  La  Sans-Regret. 


»On  the  20th  of  December,  1719,  the  Sieur  de  Martonne,  Captain  of  La  Mutine,  received  orders: 
"To  watch  carefully  over  the  girls  entrusted  to  him,  and  prevent  any  disorder  among  them  owing  to 
his  crew."  (Col.  B ,  42  bis.  fol.  207.) 


214  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1721,  Bienville  wrote  again:  'Thirty-one 
girls  have  been  married  off  between  the  24th  of  April  and  the  25th 
of  June.  All  were  from  those  sent  from  La  Baleine.  Several  were 
given  to  sailors  who  asked  insistantly  for  them.  These  could  scarcely 
have  been  married  off  to  good  residents.  Nevertheless  they  were 
granted  to  the  sailors  only  on  the  express  condition  that  they  should 
settle  in  the  Colony,  to  which  they  agreed.  These  sailors  will  supply 
practical  navigators  to  the  special  conditions  of  the  region,  and  this 
was  much  needed." 

Penicaut  approved  of  all  these  arrivals: 

"A  little  flute,  named  La  Baleine,  anchored  at  Ship  Island  on 
the  8th  of  January,  1721.  Sister  Gertrude,  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
Salpetriere  General  Hospital,  in  Paris,  had  come  over  on  this  ship 
with  ninety-eight  girls  from  that  Hospital,  all  reared  there  since 
childhood,  and  put  under  the  Sister's  guidance  to  be  married  off  in 
Louisiana.  Each  one  has  a  dower  for  the  supposed  marriage,  two 
pairs  of  coats,  two  shirts  and  undershirts,  six-head  dresses,  and 
other  furnishings  with  which  they  were  amply  provided  so  that  they 
might  marry  with  all  possible  despatch.  This  merchandise  was  soon 
disposed  of,  so  great  was  the  want  of  the  country.  If  Sister  Ger- 
trude had  brought  ten  times  as  many  girls,  she  would  have  found 
no  difficulty  in  placing  them." 

But  if,  •  at  certain  times,  little  discernment  was  shown  in  the 
choice  of  female  colonists,  the  lists  were  often  drawn  up  with  utmost 
care.  One  bears  a  note  beside  the  word  Louisiana,  which  was  crossed 
out :  'Tor  Cayenne,  the  only  spot  to  which  such  goods  could  be  sent ." 

From  1716  to  1722,  vagabonds,  deserters,  and  smugglers  were 
exported  to  Louisiana,  as  an  administrative  measure;  but  the  Regency 
furthermore  deported  a  number  of  persons  of  quality.  Their  names 
are  not  mentioned  in  the  general  correspondence  of  the  Colony, 
and  many  records  concerning  them  seem  to  have  been  purposely 
destroyed.  Particular  interest  therefore  attaches  to  a  letter  written 
on  the  subject  by  Bienville  in  June,  1721: 

"The  King's  exiles  now  in  the  Colony  have  no  independent 
means  of  subsistence;  several  among  them  are  people  of  distinction, 
incapable  of  doing  the  public  labour  which  supplies  others  with  a 
livelihood.  Something  must  be  done  for  them.  Henceforth,  letters 
written  by  these  unfortunates  to  their  families — who  turn  a  deaf 
ear  and  do  not  answer— shall  be  addressed  to  the  Company,  so  that 
the  latter  may  compel  their  relations  to  send  necessary  relief." 

Many  of  these  fils  de  famille  had  asked  to  go  to  Louisiana,  so  as 
to  escape  incarceration  at  the  Bastille  or  at  Fort  L'Eveque.  Others 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  215 

had  been  sent  at  the  demand  of  relations,  or  because  no  one  consented 
to  serve  them  with  pensions.  On  lists  of  the  deported,  this  note 
occurs  often:  "His  family  wishes  him  to  go  to  the  Mississippi  Isl- 
ands," or  else  a  phrase  to  some  such  purpose  as:  "Mme.  la  Duchesse 
de  Lorraine  has  requested  this." 

To  have  slain  one's  adversary  in  a  duel,  to  be  recognised  as  an 
"inveterate  libertine,"  or  to  be  considered  "outrageously  impious," 
were  other  frequent  motives  for  exile.  Prior  to  1720,  most  of  these 
"gens  de  force,"  as  they  were  dubbed,  were  smugglers  or  libertines 
(a  very  elastic  term);  a  few  were  petty  thieves,  and  some  were  "un- 
desirables" for  whom  no  form  of  usefulness  could  be  devised  at  home. 
A  dishonest  man-servant  of  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais  crossed  over  in 
company  with  a  revoked  executioner.  Several  lists  bear  traces  of 
strict  supervision;  from  one,  the  names  of  some  accomplices  of 
Cartouche  have  been  striken  off,  together  with  a  few  unbalanced 
and  even  a  few  completely  discredited  individuals.  Nevertheless, 
certain  of  the  allowed  motives  for  transportation  strike  us  as  curious: 
"Made  such  a  rebellion  that  a  coach  had  to  be  taken  to  conduct 
him  to  the  hospital."  "Went  poaching."  "Attacked  the  guard  at 
the  Comedy  with  drawn  sword."  "Picked  up  wounded,  and  refused 
to  state  how  or  by  whom."  "Took  a  girl  from  the  archer's  Jiands." 
This  second  Des  Grieux  may  have  saved  his  Manon,  but  was  sent 
in  her  stead  to  Louisiana. 

We  now  pass  from  reality  to  legend.  A  capital  must  have  its 
traditions  from  the  outset;  and  one  especially  has  attached  itself  to 
New  Orleans,  and  been  discussed  and  repeated,  in  spite  of  its  extreme 
unlikelihood,  by  such  men  as  Duclos,  Grimm,  Gayarre,  and  Vol- 
taire himself. 

History  informs  us  that  Princess  Charlotte  of  Brunswick- 
Wolfembuttel,  married  to  the  Czarevitch  Alexis,  died  on  the  27th  of 
October,  1715.  But  it  is  alleged  that  she  merely  feigned  death;  that, 
unable  to  endure  any  longer  the  ill-treatment  to  which  her  husband 
subjected  her,  the  unhappy  woman  contrived  to  escape  to  America. 
A  blow  is  dealt  to  the  story  by  the  facrt  that  Grimm  learned  from 
the  lips  of  Catherine  II  that  the  body  of  the  Czarevitch's  spouse 
was  embalmed  and  publicly  exposed  for  several  days. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Princess  is  supposed  to  have 
met  accidentally — or  else  to  have  rejoined  by  a  concerted  arrange- 
ment— a  mysterious  Chevalier  d'Aubant,  whom  she  had  known, 
according  to  the  version  told,  either  at  the  Court  of  Brunswick  or 
in  Russia.  She  married  him  upon  hearing  of  her  husband's  tragic 
end.  After  spending  several  years  in  New  Orleans,  where  she  planted 


216  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

elm  trees  still  shown  in  Gayarre's  time,,  Mme.  d'Aubant  returned 
to  France  and  was  recognized  by  Marshal  de  Saxe  (who  by  the  way 
had  never  before  had  an  opportunity  for  seeing  her).  The  Princess 
then  went  to  the  Ile-de-France,  where  Urbain  de  Maldaque,  her 
second,  or,  as  some  authors  state,  third  husband,  had  just  been 
appointed  a  Major. 

In  1770,  Bossu  investigated  this  legend,  in  Louisiana.  The 
Chevalier  d'Arensbourg  could  only  tell  him  that  "a  German  lady, 
believed  to  be  a  princess,  came  over  when  the  establishment  was 
started."  Our  researches  have  led  to  no  more  positive  result,  nor 
have  we  found,  among  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  War  and  of 
Colonies,  any  trace  of  an  officer  named  d'Aubant  or  Daubant. '  Ac- 
cording to  Gayarre,  Captain  d'Aubant  died  in  1754. 

This  negative  result  is  easy  to  explain.  The  death  certificate 
of  the  mysterious  unknown  woman  buried  on  the  2nd  of  June,  1771, 
in  the  church  at  Vitry-sur-Seine, ' 'opposite  the  Lord's  bench/ 'bears 
the  names  "Dortie  Marie  Elisabeth  Danielson,  widow  of  Messire 
Maldaque,  Captain-Major  at  the  Iles-de-France."  According  to 
this  record,  she  was  born  in  1693,  five  years  before  Princess  Charlotte. 
Grimm  informs  us  that  "many  curious-minded  persons  went  to  the 
sale  after  her  death." 

Did  no  one  in  our  Indian  Ocean  possessions  then  suspect  an  il-, 
lustrious  origin  for  Mme.  Moldack,  de  Moldack,  or  de  Maldaque? 
The  Journal  de  Paris  of  the  15th  of  February,  1781,  is  affirmative 
on  the  subject;  and  the  manner  in  which  Jacques  Arago  speaks  of 
"the  Czar's  daughter-in-law"  (Voyage  autour  du  Monde,  I,  p.  149.) 
proves  that  in  1817,  residents  of  Bourbon  Island  still  believed  Mme. 
Maldaque  to  be  a  Princess  by  birth,  and  attached  importance  to  the 
swift  promotion  of  her  husband,  who  "having  been  a  simple  sergeant- 
major  in  a  regiment  sent  to  the  Ile-de-France,  was  promoted  soon 
after  his  arrival,  by  order  of  the  Court,  to  the  rank  of  Major.  The 
husband  appeared  to  be  aware  of  his  wife's  rank,  and  never  spoke 
of  her  but  with  respect.  M.  de  la  Bourdonnais  and  all  his  officers  held 
her  in  equally  high  consideration.  It  was  only  after  the  death  of  her 
second  husband,  that  the  wife  of  Petrowitz  acknowledged  her  birth." 

When  Mile.  Danielson  was  young,  did  she  live  in  Louisiana? 
There  is  nothing  to  prove  it,  old  though  the  New  Orleans  elms  may  be. 


At  the  same  period,  Louisiana  was  visited  by  a  beautiful  woman, 
who  entered  the  Comedie-Frangaise  somewhat  later,  possibly  aided 
by  her  name.  The  Journal  Historique  informs  us  that  Mile.  Des- 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  217 

brosses  sailed  for  France  on  the  7th  of  January,  1722,  but  gives  no 
details  concerning  the  reasons  for  her  voyage  to  America.  We  have 
not  even  been  able  to  ascertain  whether  she  went  of  her  own  free  will. 
Born  on  the  18th  of  February,  1701,  she  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  called  Desbrosses  at  the  time.  (The  Journal  Historique  was 
drawn  up  after  the  events  narrated).  At  an  undetermined  period, 
she  married  an  obscure  comedian,  Jean  de  Brye,  whose  family  name 
was  Desbrosses;  one  of  his  sisters,  nicknamed  La  Traverse,  belonged 
to  the  Comedie-Frangaise. 

She  was,  indeed,  none  other  than  the  daughter  of  Etienne 
Michel  Baron,  and  consequently  the  grand-daughter  of  the  great 
actor  Michel  Boyron  or  Baron,  Moli£re's  pupil  "Louise  Charlotte 
Catherine  Baron,  wife  of  Desbrosses,"  says  M.  Henry  Lionnet, 
(Intermidiaire  des  chercheurs  et  curieux,  20th  of  April,  1914,)  "made 
her  debut  at  the  Comedie-Francaise,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1729, 
and  was  received  on  the  31st  of  December  following,  nine  days  after 
the  death  of  her  illustrious  grandsire.  Having  retired  on  the  3rd 
of  May,  1730,  she  returned  on  the  12th  of  December,  1736,  and  died 
in  Paris,  Rue  des  Fosses  St.  Germain,  on  the  16th  of  December, 
1742." 

A  new  hypothesis  thereby  suggests  itself.  May  not  the  recollec- 
tion of  her  charms  have  caused  tradition  to  transform  this  queen  of 
the  footlights  into  a  Princess  of  the  blood? 


CHAPTER  V. 
Adrien  de  Pauger  Traces  the  Plan  of  New  Orleans. 

AINTING  all  the  beauties  of  New  Orleans  in 
vivid  colours  at  Paris  so  as  to  encourage  emigra- 
tion, the  Company  of  the  Indies  was  still  consider- 
ing sites  for  the  town,  and  hesitating  over  all  solu- 
tions suggested. 

Manchac  seemed  definitely  adopted  in  1720, 
and  on  the  15th  of  September,  the  following  instructions  were 
handed  to  Duvergier: 

"*  *  *  The  Ordinator  shall  proceed  to  Biloxi,  which  he  is  to 
consider  as  the  Company's  first  counter  and  his  business-centre. 
Colonists  bound  for  the  interior  shall  take  boats  at  Biloxi,  and  go  as 
far  as  the  upper  end  of  Lake  Maurepas  and  the  mouth  of  the  Manchac 
brook  which  flows  into  the  Mississippi.  At  this  entrance  to  the  brook, 
the  Ordinator  shall  build  an  establishment,  on  the  side  which  he  may 
judge  suitable.  A  sufficient  number  of  light  boats  must  be  kept 
there,  to  meet  colonists  arriving  by  sea  and  take  them  upstream  to 
their  destination.  Like  Biloxi,  this  post  will  need  a  store-keeper 
for  rigging  and  boats,  and  a  boatswain.  There  must  be  a  poultry- 
yard  and  a  kitchen  garden,  to  provide  refreshments.  The  brook 
must  be  cleaned  and  its  course  freed  from  Manchac  to  the  Mississippi, 
the  floods  having  upset  trees  from  one  bank  to  the  other.1  New 
Orleans  or  Manchac  must  consequently  serve  as  general  warehouse 
for  the  interior  of  the  Colony;  a  book-keeper  shall  also  be  put  there, 


iD'Artaguette  having  written  to  the  Company  that  it  would  cost  only  seven  hundred  litres  to 
put  the  Iberville  River  in  order  (C"a,  2,  fol.  805.)  the  Directors  thought  the  operation  would  be  simple. 
But  when  the  Spaniards  attempted  it  sixty  years  later,  they  spent  vast  sums  without  success. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  219 

and  a  head  clerk  who  must  be  a  very  intelligent  man.  One  clerk 
will  suffice  for  the  other  Mississippi  establishments,  especially  since 
there  will  not  be  much  activity  in  naval  matters.  An  overland 
route  from  Biloxi  to  Illinois  should  be  built,  communication  with  the 
interior  being  interrupted  annually  by  the  Mississipi  floods."  (Colo- 
nies,  B  42  bis,  fol.  365.) 

We  should  judge  these  instructions  had  been  prepared  long  in 
advance,  since  they  were  completed  before  news  of  Perrier's  death 
reached  Paris.  Partisans  of  Biloxi  managed  to  extract  the  text  from 
the  Company's  pigeon-holes,  and  renewed  with  increased  vigour 
their  attacks  upon  old  New  Orleans,  whose  name  Manchac  bade  fair 
to  ursurp. 

Such  a  solution  as  establishing  the  capital  on  the  Iberville  River 
could  not  satisfy  coast  inhabitants,  whose  ambition  was  to  see  the 
rival  counter  completely  abandoned,  so  that  ships  should  not  enter 
the  river.  They  knew  that  Manchac  could  never  compete  with  a 
post  like  New  Orleans.  So  long,  therefore,  as  the  fact  that  all  ships 
could  readily  thread  the  passes  of  the  Mississippi  was  not  proved 
or  at  least  generally  allowed,  partisans  of  Biloxi,  of  Ship  Island,  or  of 
the  Chandeleur  Islands  offing,  waged  their  war  upon  New  Orleans. 

Benard  de  La  Harpe  wrote,  on  the  25th  of  December,  1720: 
"The  Company  had  apparently  decided  to  build  its  principal  estab- 
lishment at  New  Orleans,  thirty-two  leagues  up  the  Mississippi; 
but  we  are  led  to  believe  their  information  about  this  situation  was 
erroneous.  The  land  is  flooded,  unhealthy,  impracticable;  fit  for 
nothing  save  growing  rice.  Communications  from  the  Mississippi 
to  Lake  Pontchartrain  could  be  created;  only  one  half  league  need 
be  cut.  This  country  is  flat,  so  the  expense  would  not  be  heavy, 
and  such  a  connection  would  have  considerable  utility."  Manchac 
is  then  pompously  praised,  and  La  Harpe  adds:  "There  is  no  more 
favourable  spot  for  founding  a  capital."  As  a  port,  he  recommends 
Ship  Island. 

Drouot  de  Valdeterre  insists  similarly  on  the  urgent  necessity 
for  "changing  and  transporting  New  Orleans  to  the  Manchac  Plain, 
on  the  little  river  between  the  stream  and  Lake  Maurepas,  to  estab- 
lish the  principal  seat  there  *  *  *  and  to  found  a  second  principal 
post  for  the  management  *  *  *  New  Orleans  is  built  on  miry  soil 
deposited  by  the  river's  overflow  twice  a  year.  *  *  *  For  two  or 
three  months,  the  waters  remain,  rendering  the  air  very  unhealthy. 
The  only  houses  are  wooden  huts,  absolutely  unfit  for  use  unless 
repaired  after  each  flood."  (Colonies  C13a,  10,  fol.  13.) 


220  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

Another  memoir,  handed  in  by  M.  de  Beauvais,  declares:  "The 
capital  city  must  be  at  Manchac,  where  the  high  lands  begin  and 
whence  one  may  go  on  horseback  to  the  sources  of  the  Mobile,  the 
Alibamon,  and  even  the  Oyo  (sic).  All  that  is  needed  for  farming  a 
town  will  be  found  there,  and  all  the  pleasures  of  life.  The  govern- 
ment will  be  better  placed  for  receiving  news  and  for  transmitting 
its  orders  promptly  to  the  posts  throughout  the  country.  New 
Orleans  will  serve  as  warehouse  for  the  river- trade  near  the  sea." 
(Arch.  Hydrog.,  115,  N.  29.) 

Faced  by  so  many  positive  opinions,  the  Company  adopted 
Manchac,  but  soon  reversed  this  decision,  or  rather,  reverted  to 
indecision,  knowing  considerable  expenses  would  be  incidental  to 
the  creation  of  a  new  establishment.  Engineer-in-Chief  Le  Blond 
de  La  Tour  was  merely  ordered,  on  the  8th  of  November,  1720: 
"*  *  *  The  assistant  engineer  going  to  New  Orleans  shall  examine 
the  site  of  that  town  and  shall  alter  it  if  he  judges  necessary,  trans- 
ferring it  to  a  more  favourable  spot  at  least  with  regard  to  floods." 
These  instructions  reached  Louisiana  two  months  later;  nevertheless 
Bienville  had  to  wait  until  March,  1721,  before  he  could  send  Adrien 
de  Pauger,  the  engineer,  to  trace  on  the  spot  the  plan  of  New  Orleans. 
The  Board  had  maintained  that  "it  was  very  unnecessary  to  seek  a 
place  for  the  principal  seat  of  the  Colony,  and  Biloxi  was  the  best." 
(Colonies,  O«a,  38,  fol.  208.) 

The  first  citizens  of  New  Orleans  had  settled  down  as  they 
pleased.  Dumont  de  Montigny's  drawing,  (Arch.  Hydrog.,  4044c, 
62,)  which  we  reproduce,  shows  the  town's  primitive  appearance  in 
1721.  Pauger,  when  he  arrived  in  the  future  metropolis,  was  sur- 
prised to  find  only  "a  few  cabins  among  bushes  and  clumps  of  trees 
so  that  alignments  were  impossible."  Undaunted  by  difficulties,  he 
resolutely  set  to  work. 

"Immediately  upon  landing,"  he  writes,  "I  asked  the  Sieur 
Freboul,  head  clerk,  for  workmen  to  clear  the  ground.  He  sent  for 
my  inspection  a  few  convicts,  employed  right  and  left  as  servants 
and  drawing  rations  from  the  Company.  I  tried  to  make  them  work; 
he  wrote  about  it  to  M.  De  Lorme  who  answered  that  he  ought  not 
to  have  allowed  the  inspection.  The  said  convicts,  being  informed  of 
it,  all  left.  This  compelled  me  to  ask  M.  de  Pailloux,  the  Command- 
ant, for  a  few  soldiers,  to  which  he  kindly  consented.  He  ordered 
out  ten  with  an  officer  at  their  head  who  worked  so  swiftly  for 
twelve  days  that  they  made  sufficient  clearings  for  tracing  all  the 
streets  on  the  river  front;  and  they  would  have  continued  if  the 
clerk  had  not  insulted  the  officers  as  they  came  back  from  work, 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 


221 


because  they  asked  him  to  deliver  to  each  soldier  a  gill  of  brandy, 
which  the  Sieur  Freboul  allowed  them  daily  as  sole  payment." 

In  spite  of  which  complications,  Patiger  sent  to  Biloxi,  on  the 
14th  of  April,  a  plan  indicating  "grants  of  a  few  plots  to  the  oldest 
inhabitants  and  those  most  capable  of  building  along  the  river- 
bank."  Head  clerk  De  Lorme  also  claimed  the  exclusive  right  to 
make  concessions.  Somewhat  later,  he  annulled  all  made  by  Pauger, 
though  they  had  been  promptly  ratified  by  the  Colonial  Board. 


New  Orleans  in  1721.     (After  Dumont  of  Monligny.) 

"No  sooner  had  I  handed  in  my  first  letter,"  Pauger  writes, 
29th  of  May,  1721,  to  M.  Durant,  "than  I  heard  it  announced  by  the 
Sieur  Freboul,1  clerk,  that  the  Sieur  De  Lorme  had  ordered  him  to 
annul  all  the  allotments  I  had  intended  for  inhabitants  wishing  to 
build  houses  and  who  were  working  on  them  with  reciprocal  emula- 
tion, having  made  the  assignment  as  equitably  as  possible,  in  concert 


'Appointed  Head  Clerk  at  New  Orleans,  early  in  January.  1721.    De  Lorme  had  given  him 
written  instructions  "not  to  allow  Pauger  to  incur  any  expenses." 


222  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

with  M.  Pailloux;  and  shortly  after,  this  town  could  have  taken 
shape,  without  costing  a  single  sou  to  the  Company.  *  *  *  I  am 
regarded  today  in  New  Orleans  as  a  revoked  employe!"  (Colonies, 
C«a,  6,  fol.  137.) 

La  Tour  next  summoned  Pauger  to  Biloxi.  The  disagreement 
was  finally  settled  thanks  to  the  intervention  of  Bienville  and  Pailloux; 
later,  De  Lorme  pretended  that  he  had  "only  wanted  to  bring  mat- 
ters to  a  head."  One  of  the  few  original  concessions  which  were  not 
eventually  confirmed  was  that  belonging  to  Pauger  himself. 

Jacques  Barbazon  de  Pailloux,  who  might  be  called  the  first 
citizen  of  New  Orleans,  having  lived  there  since  1718,  was  given  the 
title  of  Director  while  remaining  military  commander  of  the  counter. 
The  Board  deemed  such  an  appointment  a  sufficient  effort  in  behalf 
of  New  Orleans;  they  then  despatched  Pauger  to  trace  the  course 
of  the  Mississippi  up  to  Natchez,  so  that  he  might  not  continue  his 
work  on  the  capital. 


Pauger 's  plans,  after  running  amok  somewhere  between  New 
Orleans  and  Biloxi,  got  buried  in  the  pigeon-holes  of  the  Engineer-in- 
Chief.  It  is  possible,  though  we  judge  unlikely,  that  Le  Blond  De  La 
Tour  sent  them  to  Paris  in  December,  as  he  stated.  De  Lorme 
rested  content  with  writing  on  the  25th  of  April  that  they  would  be 
sent  "At  the  earliest  opportunity."  Whatever  the  means  adopted, 
the  adversaries  of  New  Orleans  saw  to  it  that  the  plans  should  not 
reach  Paris;  and  La  Tour  started  off  with  Boispinel,  in  January, 
1722,  to  sketch  the  plan  of  Ship  Island.  While  finishing  on  the  spot 
magnificent  projects  for  a  port  and  a  citadel,  the  Engineer-in-Chief 
little  suspected  that  a  copy  of  Pauger 's  plans  was  already  in  Paris, 
sent  over  by  a  mysterious  hand. 

We  find  an  unsigned  paper  bearing  the  words:  "This  induced 
him  to  secure  a  surreptitious  copy  of  the  Sieur  Pauger 's  plans,  this 
engineer  having  been  unwilling  to  give  them  without  an  order  from 
M .  Le  Blond. ' '  On  the  margin  is  written :  '  'Just  acknowledge  receipt 
and  approve  the  attention."  Pauger  had  given  to  Bienville  copies 
of  his  sketches;  the  Journal  historique  comments,  "M.  de  La  Tour 
was  very  displeased  at  this,  and  expressed  his  discontent  to  M. 
Pauger;"  hence  it  appears  beyond  doubt  that  Bienville  himself  sent 
the  plans,  in  connivance  with  Pauger.  Probably  this  unofficial  action 
had  weight  in  the  Company's  final  decision,  since  the  regent,  god-father 
to  the  new  capital,  was  necessarily  flattered  to  see  the  project  put 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  223 

into  effect.  A  few  months  before,  these  plans  could  have  been  dis- 
played to  great  advantage,  Rue  Quincampoix. 

A  last  word  about  the  wanderings  of  the  ill-starred  plans.  La 
Tour  received  orders  to  send  them  to  Paris,  as  if  they  had  not  already 
gone  thither.  He  thought  it  wise  to  entrust  them  to  M.  de  Noyan, 
Bienville's  nephew,  as  a  guarantee  against  mishaps.  One  of  the 
plans  is  still  preserved  at  the  Depot  des  Cartes  of  the  Ministry  of 
War,  under  the  number  7c,  213. 

Not  content  with  knowing  that  his  project  was  in  Paris,  Pauger 
despatched  a  veritable  memoir  on  the  23rd  of  June,  1721;  purporting 
to  be  a  letter  to  an  Oratorian  father,  it  was  intended  for  the  eyes  of 
the  Comte  de  Toulouse.  This  interesting  paper,  too  long  for  textual 
insertion  here,  was  published  by  the  Annales  encyclopediques  in 
October,  1818. 

Pauger  begins  by  relating  his  journey  over,  and  the  way  in  which 
his  enemy,  Director  Rigby,  forced  workmen  at  Port  Louis  "and  even 
three  unshod  Carmelites,  missionary  chaplains,  to  embark  hedged 
in  by  fusiliers,  like  criminals.  *  *  *  I  was  then  detached,"  he 
continues,  "to  go  to  New  Orleans  and  sketch  the  project  for  a  regular 
town  which  is  to  be  the  capital  of  the  country.  Much  progress  to- 
wards establishing  it  would  already  have  been  made,  if  the  Company 
had  provided  the  place  with  supplies  and  with  intelligent  managers 
capable  of  seeing  for  themselves  or  even  of  profiting  by  the  good  ad- 
vice given  them.  They  have  shown  me  how  their  stubborness  and 
their  arrogance  have  caused  ships  from  France  to  be  stopped  at 
Biloxi,  rather  than  enter  the  Mississippi,  which  is  the  subject  and  the 
keystone  of  the  country's  establishment.  There  they  could  immedi- 
ately have  landed  goods  and  workmen  for  concession-holders,  upon 
fertile  ground;  and  so  fine  plantations  could  have  been  made  and  sup- 
plies produced.  Instead  of  which,  all  were  landed  at  Biloxi  on  a 
sandy  shore,  where  provisions  were  eaten  and  goods  deteriorated, 
and  many  of  the  best  workmen  died.  As  a  consequence,  establish- 
ments in  this  country  are  languishing,  and  unless  much  help  comes 
from  France,  all  must  unquestionably  fail;  I  repeat,  the  fault  lies  in 
ignorance  that  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  is  very  safe  and  easily 
navigable,  even  for  ships  drawing  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet,  or  more, 
after  being  lightened  at  the  Balise  Island.  Many  former  settlers 
come  all  directions  to  make  plantations  along  the  Mississippi,  near 
New  Orleans." 

Notwithstanding  his-  confidence  in  the  town's  future,  Pauger 
wonders  whether  the  difficulties  encountered  by  ships  at  English 
Turn  may  not  lead  some  day  "to  the  necessity  for  building  stores 


224  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

below  the  bend,  and  perhaps  even  for  transporting  thither  the  princi- 
pal seat  of  the  Colony."  La  Tour  claims,  in  a  letter  dated  9th  Decem- 
ber, 1721,  the  merit  of  having  drawn  up  the  plan  of  New  Orleans. 
But  he  saw  the  Mississippi  for  the  first  time  some  six  months  later; 
and  his  pretention  seems  all  the  more  exaggerated,  since  his  general 
instructions  were  such  that  they  could  not  be  followed: 

"You  will  observe,"  Pauger  wrote  to  him,  24th  April,  1721,  "the 
modifications  I  was  compelled  to  make,  because  the  land  lies  higher 
along  the  river-banks.  I  brought  the  town-square  closer,  and  also 
the  allotments  for  prominent  citizens,  to  profit  by  landing  facilities 
and  by  ventilation  from  river  breezes.  *  *  *  Thus  each  one  will 
have  his  garden,  which  is  the  half  of  life."  (Arch.  Hydrog.,  672,  6.) 

La  Tour1  may  have  traced  in  advance,  on  paper,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  little  squares,  but  had  evidently  located  them  far  from  the 
river,  very  probably  on  the  banks  of  Bayou  St.  John. 

Hubert,  Father  Charlevoix,  and  the  Journal  Historique  all 
mention  Pauger  as  the  real  author  of  the  plan;  and  De  Lorme,  though 
he  wasted  no  love  on  the  engineer,  yet  writes  at  the  end  of  1721; 
"Pauger,  after  having  sketched  the  plan  of  New  Orleans,  traced  the 
alignments,  and  distributed  the  sites,  came  down  the  river  with  the 
Santo-Christo  and  built  a  beacon  sixty-two  feet  high." 

Nevetheless,  most  Louisiana  historians  have  attributed  to 
La  Tour  the  honour  of  creating  New  Orleans.  This  is  both  an  error 
and  an  injustice.  In  truth,  the  engineer-in-chief,  before  receiving 
any  formal  instructions,  had  thought  of  building  a  big  town  at 
Biloxi,  whose  position  he  considered  "advantageous,  the  air  excellent, 
and  the  water  good."  Besides  which,  he  had  merely  planned  to  erect 
a  citadel  and  make  a  large  port  at  Ship  Island,  and  finally  to  drag 
"the  Manchac  Brook  in  which  the  Mississippi  flows  during  the 
floods;  if  dug  out,  it  would  shorten  the  way  for  going  up  the  river." 
These  quotations  show  that  he  did  not  care  particularly  about  his 
plan  of  New  Orleans,  which  was  dated  the  23rd  of  April,  1722,  and 
indicated  the  positions  of  Bienville's  house,  the  Directors'  residence, 
etc.  When  no  choice  was  left  him,  he  simply  put  into  execution  the 
project  of  his  subordinate. 

While  La  Tour  remained  peacefully  at  Biloxi,  or  else  went  to 
take  soundings  round  Ship  Island,  unhappy  Pauger  was  exposed  to 


iSent  as  draftsman  to  Portugal  (1702),  appointed  engineer  in  1703;  accompanied  the  army  to 
Spain,  1704-1708.     (Taken  prisoner  at  Alcantara  in  1705,  and  exchanged  the  following  year.)     Was 
at  the  siege  of  Marchienne,  and  as  non-commissioned  officer  at  those  of  Douai,  Quesnoy,  Bouchain,  and 
Fribourg  (1713).    La  Tour  received  the  Cross  of  St.  Louis  in  1715,  was  named  reserve  Captain  of  th 
Piedmont  Regiment,  and  then  corporal  of  His  Majesty's  Engineers. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  225 

all  conceivable  persecutions  in  New  Orleans.  Biloxians,  not  daring 
to  attack  Bienville,  turned  their  enmity  against  the  engineer,  de- 
nouncing him  at  Paris  as  a  plunderer  of  the  Colony's  funds,  and  then 
charging  him  with  having  granted  to  his  friends  all  the  good  sites  in 
the  town.  Coast  settlers  began  to  regret  their  protracted  disdain  for 
the  best  land. 

La  Tour,  when  ordered  to  transfer  the  capital,  energetically 
defended  his  subordinate;  but  Pauger  accuses  him  with  much  likeli- 
hood of  having  done  him  very  ill  service.  Hubert  himself  acknowl- 
edged later  that  "Pauger  had  deserved  La  Tour's  confidence,  rather 
than  disgrace." 

Pauger  had  reached  the  Colony  on  the  llth  of  October,  1720; 
his  official  papers  said  of  him  only  that  he  had  been  "appointed 
engineer  on  the  1st  of  April,  1707,  and  Chevalier  of  St.  Louis,  in  1720." 
He  had  been  captain  of  the  Navarre  Regiment,  and  was  evidently  a 
man  of  great  energy  who  often  declined  to  be  embarrassed  by  points 
of  strict  legality.  For  instance,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1720,  the  Marine 
Board  had  had  to  resort  to  a  decree  "ordering  him  to  release  four 
ranking  sailors"  whom  he  had  enticed  away  from  a  ship  belonging  to 
the  Company  of  the  Indies  and  had  enrolled  as  workmen,  in  Louis- 
iana. But  his  integrity  cannot  be  questioned. 

And  yet,  the  Company,  after  recording  the  melancholy  obser- 
vation that  "Louisiana  cannot  at  present  be  considered  as  a  profita- 
ble object  for  trade,"  (Ministry  of  Colonies,  C2,  15,  fol.  12.)  made 
capital  of  a  denunciation  by  one  of  the  Directors,  Rigby;  and  pro- 
tested, on  the  14th  of  August,  1721,  against  the  expenses  to  which 
Pauger  had  agreed.  "The  Company,"  says  this  text,  "is  highly 
displeased  with  the  Sieur  Pauger's  account  of  the  workmen  he  pressed 
into  service.  Do  not  instruct  him  to  run  up  any  expenses,  and  be 
reserved  in  supplying  him  with  money  he  may  ask  for.  He  is  im- 
portunate and  does  not  husband  the  Company's  interests;  so  you 
must  hold  strictly  within  his  prerogatives." 

Wherefore  the  "importunate"  one  was  out  of  favour  in  the 
Company's  offices,  and  the  adversaries  of  New  Orleans  were  already 
assured  of  complaisance,  when  fresh  complaints  were  lodged  against 
him.  Freboul,  who  together  with  his  clerk  Duval  had  been  accused 
by  Pauger  of  malversations,  brought  against  Pauger  himself  a  charge 
of  favouritism,  and  alleged  that  De  Lorme  had  abandoned  a  post 
without  the  Board's  consent.  The  Directors  accepted  these  denun- 
ciations without  a  question,  and  even  deliberated  as  to  whether 
Pauger  should  not  be  put  under  arrest.  On  the  29th  of  October, 
they  wrote:  "We  are  informed  that  the  Sieur  Pauger  has  attempted 


226  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

to  exercise  authority  in  New  Orleans,  and  he  has  displayed  resent- 
ment when  we  have  rightly  objected.  We  must  now  come  to  an 
understanding  on  the  subject.  You  are  undoubtedly  aware  that 
no  property  belonging  to  the  Company  can  be  disposed  of  without 
an  order  of  the  Director  holding  a  power  of  Attorney.  Hence  the 
Sieur  Pauger  had  no  legal  right  for  distributing  lands  in  New  Orleans 
and  ordering  expenses  there  on  his  own  initiative.  *  *  *  We  are 
surprised  that  this  engineer  should  have  taken  upon  himself  to  stop 
work  on  New  Orleans,  under  the  sole  pretext  that  he  was  not  obeyed. 
Such  conduct  reflects  discreditably  on  his  state  of  mind,  and  gives 
rise  to  the  belief  that  discipline  has  grown  very  lax  in  the  Colony, 
because  this  officer  should  have  been  arrested  at  Biloxi  for  leaving 
his  post  without  order  or  authority.  *  *  *  .  We  are  willing,  this 
once,  to  abstain  from  proceedings  against  the  Sieur  Pauger."  (Min- 
istry of  Colonies,  C*,  16,  fol.  25.) 

For  answer,  the  engineer  simply  sent  to  Paris  the  letter  by 
which  La  Tour  had  summoned  him  to  Biloxi,  and  added  to  it  a  copy 
of  the  Colonial  Board's  deliberation  ratifying  all  concessions  as 
proposed. 

But  the  people  of  New  Orleans  failed  to  understand  that  having 
to  deal  with  so  many  powerful  and  inveterate  enemies,  their  interest 
demanded  that  they  should  rally  round  their  ardent  champion. 
Instead,  they  too  began  to  find  fault  with  his  plan. 

Dubuisson  categorically  refused  to  follow  it.  The  year  after, 
La  Tour  said  of  him:  'This  settler  wanted  to  build  as  he  pleased, 
without  regularity  or  fixed  plan,  along  the  city  quays.  He  would 
have  constructed  a  veritable  gewgaw  in  the  axis  of  the  Avenue 
where  M.  de  Bienville  lives."  Next,  Mme.  Bonnaud,  wife  of  Diron 
d'Artaguette's  secretary  and  sister  of  Dubuisson,  grew  furious  be- 
cause a  street  nicked  a  corner  from  her  ground.  She  would  have 
"jumped"  on  Pauger,  if  Pailloux  had  not  prevented  her.  "She  would 
even  have  struck  me  in  the  face,  if  I  had  not  warded  off  her  hand," 
the  engineer  writes.  "The  devil  often  enters  into  woman's  malice. 
She  afterwards  called  me  a  rogue."  Pauger  pronounced  her  a  "gueuse" 
and  only  Pailloux' s  intervention  prevented  a  duel  between  him  and 
Bonnaud. 

A  year  later,  Pauger  was  uncompromising  with  the  recalcitrant, 
when  his  plans  had  been  definitely  approved.  D'Artaguette  writes 
in  his  Journal,  under  date  of  6th  September,  1722:  "One  Traverse,  a 
resident  of  New  Orleans,  was  released  from  prison  today.  Here  is 
the  cause  for  his  being  sent  there:  he  had  built  a  house  in  New  Or- 
leans, out  of  the  street  alignment,  before  the  plan  was  proposed. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  227 

M.  Pauger  had  it  torn  down.  This  man,  not  being  well  off,  presented 
a  petition  to s  the  Board,  begging  for  an  indemnity  and  for  means 
to  build  another  house.  M.  Pauger  sent  for  him,  and  after  treating 
him  to  a  shower  of  blows  from  a  stick,  cast  him  into  prison,  with 
shackles  on  his  ankles,  and  the  man  came  out  today,  almost  blind." 

We  must  add,  however,  that  Diron  d'Artaguette  cordially  de- 
tested the  engineer. 


On  the  15th  of  April,  1721,  the  Council  of  Regency  reached  a 
decision  for  founding  in  New  Orleans  a  convent  of  Capucins  from 
Champagne.  Completing  this,  a  further  order  was  signed  on  the 
16th  of  May,  1722,  prescribing  that  the  Company  should  "build  in 
New  Orleans  a  parish  church  of  suitable  size  and  an  adjacent  house 
for  fourteen  monks,  with  grounds  for  a  garden  and  a  poultry-yard." 
Fathers  Bruno,  of  Langres,  Eusebius,  of  Vaudes,  and  Christophe  and 
Philibert,  both  from  Chaumont,  were  selected  for  rejoining  the  three 
Capucins  already  in  Louisiana. 

Each  monk  was  to  be  supplied  yearly,  by  the  Company,  with  a 
cask  of  claret,  two  "Quarts,"  or  about  four  hundred  pounds,  of  flour, 
half  a  "Quart,"  or  about  one  hundred  pounds,  of  bacon,  the  same 
amount  of  beef  half  an  ancre,  or  about  thirty-six  pints,  of  brandy, 
twenty-five  pounds  of  large  beans,  the  same  quantity  of  peas  and 
kidney  beans,  eight  pounds  of  Dutch  or  Gruyere  cheese,  twelve 
pounds  of  olive  oil,  twenty-four  pounds  of  candles,  half  a  pound  of 
pepper,  twenty-five  pounds  of  salt,  twenty  pots  of  vinegar,  and  the 
needful  household  utensils.  An  order  dated  the  19th  of  October, 
1722,  instructed  the  Superior  to  reside  always  at  New  Orleans;  a 
chaplain  was  to  serve  the  post  at  the  Balise. 


In  1721,  various  private  citizens  constructed  huts  in  the  capital, 
but  the  Company's  store,  somewhat  enlarged,  remained  the  only 
public  building.  From  the  hundred  and  eight  free  workmen  kept  in 
the  Colony  by  the  Company  of  the  Indies,  only  four  were  at  Pauger's 
disposal  on  the  9th  of  November,  1721 :  a  lock-smith,  two  carpenters, 
and  a  mason's  son. 

Le  Gac,  who  had  become  Second  Councillor,  wrote  in  March: 
"There  are  in  New  Orleans,  with  one  hundred  soldiers,  the  Colonial 
Major,  named  Monsieur  Pailloux,  his  subordinate  officers,  a  head 
clerk,  a  store-keeper,  and  other  employes  for  distributing  both  food 
and  merchandise.  Some  thirty-five  or  forty  houses  were  there, 


228 


The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 


belonging  either  to  the  Company  or  to  residents.  There  were  in  all 
two  hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  people."  So  that  the  free 
civilian  population  did  not  exceed  about  sixty  souls.  "All  the  con- 
cession holders,"  Bienville  and  De  Lorme  report  on  the  25th  of  April, 
1721,  "are  agitating  to  obtain  previsions,  or  rather,  all  have  peti- 
tioned for  a  little  plot  of  six  acres'  frontage  to  go  with  each  concession 
near  New  Orleans.  They  have  sent  thither  part  of  their  people  and 
of  their  goods,  so  as  to  start  sowing  and  to  profit  by  the  next  crop." 

At  last,  an  impetus  had  been  given,  and  the  number  of  inha- 
bitants soon  increased.  From  a  census  dated  the  24th  of  November, 
1721,  we  quote  the  following  figures: 


Men 

Women 

Children 

White 
Servants 

Negroes 

Indian 
Slaves 

Residents 

59 

34 

27 

28 

171 

21 

People  in  the  Company's 
service 

44 

18 

11 

Force  —  Labourers  _. 

42 

13 

1 

1 

145 

65 

38 

29 

172 

21 

2' 

n 

This  makes  a  total  of  four  hundred  and  seventy  inhabitants,  of 
whom  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  were  Europeans.  In  the  list 
of  residents,  we  find:  Bienville,  Governor;  Pailloux,  Commandant; 
Bannez,  Major;  de  Gannerin,  Captain;  Pauger,  Descoublanc,  de  La 
Tour,  Bassee,  Coustillar,  officers;1  Rossard,  notary;  Le  Blanc  and 
Sarazin,  storekeepers;  Bonneau,  secretary  to  Diron  d'Artaguette; 
Berard,  surgeon-major;  Bonneau,  captain  of  the  Neptune.  We  note 
also  the  commandant  of  negroes,  a  house  outfitter,  a  turner,  a  barge- 
maker,  a  carpenter,  two  joiners,  two  armourers,  an  edge-tool  maker, 
a  black-smith,  a  harness-maker,  a  tobacco-curer,  a  carter,  sixteen 
ship's  captains,  some  sailors,  etc.  Thirty-six  head  of  horned  cattle, 
nine  horses,  and  "zero  hog"  complete  the  census. 

If  we  add  to  the  population  of  New  Orleans  that  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood (Bayou  St.  John,  old  and  new  Colapissas,  Gentilly,  Cannes- 
Brulees,  Petit-Desert,  English  Turn,  and  Tchachouas),  we  find  six 
hundred  and  eighty-four  Europeans,  (293  residents,  or  planters,  140 
women,  96  children,  155  servants);  five  hundred  and  thirty-three 


»In  August,  1721,  the  garrison  comprised  forty-nine  soldiers. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  229 

negroes  or  negresses,  fifty-one  Indians  or  squaws  as  slaves,  two 
hundred  and  thirty  head  of  horned  cattle,  and  thirty-four  horses. 


The  year  1721  had  been  generally  favourable  to  New  Orleans. 
From  a  military  post,  a  sales-counter,  and  a  camping-ground  for 
travellers,  it  had  become,  in  November,  a  small  town,  and  the  num- 
ber of  its  irreconcilable  enemies  began  to  decrease.  An  Etat  de  la 
Louisiane  pour  le  mois  de  Juin,  1721,  says:  "The  store  which  serves 
s  as  warehouse  for  New  Orleans  at  the  St.  John  brook,  is  indispensable. 
It  could  be  done  away  with  only  after  the  Manchac  brook  has  been 
cleaned.  This  operation  is  unfortunately  very  difficult."  The  poor 
counter,  so  long  considered  absolutely  useless,  had  now  become  a 
necessary  evil! 

On  the  5th  of  September,  1721,  three  months  before  the  New 
Orleans  counter  was  definitely  chosen  as  capital,  the  Company  of 
the  Indies  began  by  defining  its  ' 'quart  ier,"  the  other  districts  being 
those  of  Biloxi,  Mobile,  Alabama,  Natchez,  Yazoo,  Red  River, 
Arkansas,  and  Illinois. 

"The  first  district  shall  be  that  of  New  Orleans,  which  the 
Commandant  General  shall  make  his  ordinary  residence;  this  shall 
not  prevent  him  from  proceeding  withersoever  he  may  judge  neces- 
sary. This  district  shall  comprise  all  that  lies  on  both  banks  of  the 
St.  Louis  River,  as  far  as  the  shores  of  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  Lake 
Maurepas  to  the  east,  and  going  up  as  far  as,  and  including,  the 
Tonicas;  and,  to  the  west,  as  far  as  Red  River.  The  Company's 
privy  clerk  .shall  be  established  by  the  Superior  Council  as  Judge 
over  the  New  Orleans  district." 

Bienville  had  especial  charge  of  the  districts  of  New  Orleans, 
Natchez,  Yazoo,  and  Red  River. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

New  Orleans  the  Capital  of  Louisiana- -Work  is  Hurried 

On—The  Cyclone  of  the  12th  of  September, 

1722--D'Artaguette's  Chronicle 


EAVING  Canada  and  visiting  the  upper  Louisiana 
posts  as  he  came  down  the  Mississippi,  Father 
Charlevoix  reached  New  Orleans  at  the  beginning  of 
1722,  a  memorable  year  for  the  Colony. 

In  his  Journal  d'un  voyage  fait  par  Vordre  du  Roi 
dans  rAmeriqiie,    (31st  letter),   Father   Charlevoix 
writes: 

"Here  I  am  in  this  famous  town  called  New  Orleans.  *  *  *  The 
eight  hundred  fine  houses,  the  five  parishes  attributed  to  it  by  the 
Mercure1  two  years  ago,  are  now  shrunk  to  perhaps  a  hundred  scat- 
tered huts,  a  big  wooden  store,  two  houses  which  would  not  be 
considered  decorative  in  a  French  village,  and  half  a  wretched  store 
which  was  graciously  lent  to  the  Lord,  but  no  sooner  had  he  taken 
possession  than  an  attempt  was  made  to  drive  him  out  to  go  and 
dwell  in  a  tent." 

Charlevoix  adds:  'This  wild  and  desert  spot,  still  almost 
entirely  covered  by  trees  and  cane-brakes,  will  become  some  day, 
and  perhaps  very  soon,  a  properous  town,  the  metropolis  of  a  great 
and  rich  Colony."  Though  the  prophecy  was  sound,  this  passage, 
certainly  a  later  addition,  seems  to  have  been  prompted  by  a  reading 
of  the  Relation  du  voyage  des  religieuses  Ursulines  (see  p.  ). 

The  letter  which  follows  (32nd)  appears  to  have  suffered  less 
from  retouches: 


*We  have  not  been  able  to  find  this  article.    Charlevoix  may  have  had  in  mind  some  such  opuscle 
as  that  of  the  Chevalier  de  Bonrepos. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  231 

"I  have  not  found  this  town  to  be  so  well  placed  as  I  had  been 
told.  *  *  *  To  form  a  just  idea  of  New  Orleans,  picture  to  yourself 
two  hundred  people  sent  to  build  a  town,  who  have  camped  along  a 
great  river  with  no  thought  save  to  seek  protection  against  violent 
weather,  and  who  wait  thus  for  a  plan  to  be  sketched  and  for  houses 
to  be  erected.  M.  Pauger  has  just  shown  me  a  plan  according  to  his 
ideas;  it  is  quite  fine  and  very  regular,  but  will  not  be  so  easy  to  carry 
out  as  it  was  to  put  on  paper."  Some  unjustified  criticisms  of  the 
site  follow,  which  do  not  harmonise  with  the  prophecy  just  quoted. 

Father  Charlevoix  had  intended  to  return  to  Canada  by  the 
Mississippi,  but  had  to  renounce  this  project  because  of  hostility 
shown  by  Indian  tribes,  and  "going  up,  the  banks  must  be  hugged." 
After  a  short  voyage  to  Biloxi,  he  went  back  to  New  Orleans  and 
embarked  on  a  ship  which  was  wrecked  off  the  Florida  coast. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  the  Colonial  Board  resolved  to  send  to 
New  Orleans  the  flute  Adour,  laden  with  merchandise;  the  Directory 
had  at  last  recognised  that  "this  post  must  always  be  well  provided 
for  the  sake  of  the  concessions  and  of  the  upper  posts."  The  cargo 
vanished  most  mysteriously,  however,  immediately  upon  arrival; 
later,  La  Chaise,  the  Ordinator,  held  De  Lorme  responsible  for  this 
and  had  him  revoked. 

In  April,  Marlot  was  head  clerk,  Drillan  assistant  store-keeper, 
Le  Blanc,  store-keeper  for  foodstuffs,  and  Brossard  a  clerk. 


Bienville  continued  untiringly  to  advertise  the  utility  of  New 
Orleans.  He  wrote  from  that  post  in  March:  "All  ships  of  the 
third  class  can  without  difficulty  enter  the  river,"  and  he  complains 
bitterly  that  La  Tour  "will  bother  about  nothing  save  the  old  posts." 
The  "Father  of  Louisiana"  (and  of  New  Orleans)  little  suspected 
that  while  he  was  in  the  very  act  of  getting  this  mail  ready,  his  per- 
sistent efforts  had,  at  least,  been  crowned  with  success. 

Compelled,  as  we  have  said,  to  renounce  all  hope  of  keeping 
Pensacola,  the  Board  of  the  Company  of  the  Indies  had  finally 
reached  a  decision,  and  signed,  on  the  23rd  of  December,  1721,  an 
prder  to  build  a  fort  and  a  store  at  the  Balise,  and  to  transfer  the 
general  management  to  New  Orleans.  (Extract  from  a  repertory. 
Colonies,  C13a,  II,  fol.  366).  Detailed  instructions  sent  simultan- 
eously by  the  directors,  for  building  a  large  warehouse  at  the  entrance 
of  the  river,  show  that  they  had  adopted  the  conclusions  of  Serigny's 
report.  This  had  been  drawn  up  the  19th  of  October  preceding, 


232  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

when  Serigny  returned  from  the  mission  to  Louisiana  on  which  the 
Company  had  sent  him. 

Bienville's  brother  stated,  at  La  Rochelle,  that  Louisiana's  port 
ought  to  be  on  the  Mississippi.  But  since  he  had  never  been  able 
to  find  more  than  eleven  feet  of  water  in  the  passes,  and  since  it  seemed 
impossible  to  drag  the  channel  "owing  to  the  quantity  of  tree-trunks, 
grown  very  hard,  which  were  there,"  he  suggested  that  a  large  ware- 
house be  built  at  the  Balise.  He  said:  'The  Company  might  have 
two  or  three  boats  drawing  only  ten  feet  of  water,  remaining  always 
in  the  river,  and  receiving  their  loads  either  from  newly  arrived 
ships,  or  from  the  warehouse,  for  transportation  to  New  Orleans." 

From  which  we  see  that  if  New  Orleans  had  become  the  Capital 
of  Louisiana,  it  was  not  yet  recognized  in  France  as  fit  to  be  the 
Company's  port! 


Brought  over  by  the  Aventurier,  the  Company's  decision 
reached  Biloxi  on  the  26th  of  May,  1722.  A  formal  order  being  now 
given  to  transfer  the  seat  of  government,  Bienville  met  with  no  furth- 
er resistance;  and  from  one  day  to  the  next,  New  Orleans  had  just  as 
many  warm  partisans  as  it  had  theretofore  had  inveterate  enemies. 

Le  Blond  de  La  Tour  had  affected  to  stand  aside  from  the 
quarrel  dividing  the  colonists,  although  Duvergier  had  written  of  him 
on  the  21st  of  August,  1721:  "M.  de  La  Tour  is  at  the  head  of  the 
malcontent  concession-holders."  He  now  hastened  to  change  opin- 
ions retrospectively. 

His  despatches  until  April  had  spoken  almost  exclusively  of 
the  great  hospital  at  Biloxi,  or  of  the  fortress  and  the  port  about  to 
be  built  at  Ship  Island.  So  it  would  appear  certain  that  his  volum- 
inous correspondence  bearing  the  date  of  the  28th  of  April,  and  even 
his  despatch  of  the  23rd,  must  have  been  written  after  the  Aventurier 
had  arrived.  Only,  the  prudent  engineer  took  the  useful  precaution 
of  dating  all  his  letters  a  month  earlier,  to  cover  himself  if  need  were. 

"I  see  with  pleasure,"  he  says,  "the  change  which  His  Royal 
Highness  had  made  in  transferring  the  management  of  the  Board  to 
New  Orleans."  And  he  adds  that  but  for  the  unreasoning  opposi- 
tion of  Le  Gac  (recalled  in  March,  1721)  he  would,  immediately 
upon  arriving,  have  brought  all  ships  into  the  river:  "Much  expense 
would  have  been  spared  to  the  Company,  people  would  not  have 
died  of  want,  and  the  land  would  already  have  been  broken." 

Hubert,  relentless  towards  New  Orleans,  was  ordered  back  to 
France.  Upon  reaching  Paris,  in  April,  1723,  with  marvellous  as- 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  233 

surance  he  presented  a  "  Memoir  e  sur  la  Louisiane"  in  which  he  pro- 
nounced the  transfer  of  the  capital  to  be  "an  excellent  measure.  *  *  * 
It  was  a  mistake  to  land  goods  at  Biloxi,  where  they  were  uselessly 
consumed.  *  *  *  All  those  changes  prevented  colonists  from  taking 
root  anywhere.  *  *  *  They  were  pernicious  to  the  welfare  of  the 
growth  of  the  Colony,  and  have  too  long  held  the  colonists  fatally 
inactive  *  *  *  This  has  been  effected  by  false  and  influential 
persons,  who  prevail  against  the  real  friends  of  uprightness.  The 
Sieur  Pauger  deserved  M.  de  La  Tour's  confidence,  rather  than 
disgrace.  *  *  *" 

Very  cleverly,  La  Tour  prepared  a  transition  for  his  correspon- 
dence with  the  anticipated  dates.  On  the  23rd  of  April,  he  wrote: 
"Regarding  the  site  of  New  Orleans,  although  it  lies  low,  I  think  this 
town  could  not  be  put  elsewhere,  because  of  its  proximity  to  the 
lakes,  a  great  convenience  for  travellers  in  boats  or  pirogues,  which 
have  barely  a  league  to  go,  whereas  if  the  town  were  at  any  other 
place,  everything  would  have  to  go  by  sea.  There  would  be  less  trade, 
for  there  are  no  large  boats;  voyages  would  be  longer  and  more 
expensive.  For  those  up  the  river  coming  down  here,  it  would  be 
the  same.  *  *  *  To  protect  the  town  against  river  floods,-  the  ground 
might  be  raised  above  high-water  level  by  making  a  good  earthen 
dike  on  the  city-front  by  the  river;  this  has  already  begun,  but  is 
neither  high  enough  nor  wide  enough.  *  *  *  Ships  entering  the 
river  could  take  sand  in  passing,  and  bring  it  here;  for  New  Orleans 
soil  is  so  light  that  as  soon  as  rain  falls,  one  sinks  up  to  one's  knees." 

Adopting  Pauger's  plans,  La  Tour  added  that  two  jetties,  easy 
to  build  at  the  river's  mouth,  would  narrow  down  the  latter  and  force 
the  passes  free  of  all  existing  obstacles. 

His  letters  once  finished,  La  Tour  took  the  New  Orleans  plans 
out  of  his  pigeon-holes,  and  instructed  Pauger  to  call  immediately 
together  as  many  workmen  as  possible.  Next  he  requisitioned  the 
Aventurier,  went  on  board  with  his  new  engineer,  and  on  the  10th  of 
June  had  set  sail  for  the  new  capital,  without  heeding  the  Captain's 
protests  to  the  effect  that  his  ship  could  never  enter  the  Mississippi. 
And  yet,  this  Captain's  orders,  dated  the  7th  of  January,  said: 
"After  taking  to  Biloxi  the  packages  he  bears,  he  will  advise  that  he 
must  unload  at  New  Orleans  and  receive  on  board  those  who  may 
wish  to  pass."  (Colonies,  B,  43,  fol.  97.) 

La  Tour  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  scheme  for  a  sensational 
entrance  into  New  Orleans,  owing  to  the  incapacity  and  the  unwilling- 
ness of  Captain  Fouquet.  Further  complications  were  added  in  the 
way  of  adverse  winds,  dead  calms,  and  tempests.  Then  the  ship 


234  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

went  aground  at  the  Balise.  Beranger,  wHo  had  explored  the  Texas 
coast  in  1720  and  1721,  was  aboard,  and  knew  the  passes  well,  since 
he  had  already  piloted  several  ships  through  the  Mississippi.  Only 
Beranger  was  the  author  of  a  project  for  making  the  Colony's  chief 
port  to  the  west  of  the  Chandeleur  Islands  " where  forty  large  ships, 
according  to  Duvergier,  can  find  shelter  at  all  times."  The  year 
before,  acting  on  the  instances  of  Le  Gac,  he  had,  it  was  asserted, 
delivered  to  the  captain  of  the  Dromadaire  a  certificate  declaring 
that  "it  would  be  easier  for  an  elephant  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle,  than  for  the  Dromadaire  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  passes  with 
all  sails  set,  and  at  low  water." 

The  Aventurier  was  less  fortunate,  and  had  to  be  partly  unloaded 
at  the  Balise,  finally  taking  almost  a  month  to  reach  New  Orleans. 
A  year  earlier,  such  a  series  of  mishaps,  deftly  exploited  by  Mobilians, 
would  have  set  back  for  several  more  years  the  choice  of  the  city's 
site.  But  the  engineers  reached  New  Orleans  on  the  7th  of  July. 
They  profited  by  their  leisures,  while  the  ship  remained  grounded, 
to  make  careful  soundings  of  the  passes,  finding  a  depth  of  fourteen 
feet  and  a  mud  bottom  harmless  for  a  ship's  keel. 

Proportionately  as  the  future  of  New  Orleans  took  on  more 
favourable  hues,  the  river's  mouth  developed  greater  depth,  so  that 
in  four  years  it  sank  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet.  Pauger  himself  had 
reported  only  ten  and  a  half  feet  in  1721;  but  when  he  came  for  his 
second  visit,  he  found  he  had  been  mistaken,  and  so  rectified  the 
error.  The  transmutation  of  the  "rock  bottom"  into  mud  was  still 
more  surprising;  and  very  clever  observers  even  bethought  them 
that  since  a  tide  Was  still  perceptible  at  the  Balise,  it  could  be  turned 
to  advantage.  Later,  Duvergier  wrote:  "There  have  always  been 
thirteen  feet  of  water,  but  this  was  concealed  from  the  Company's 
knowledge." 

Although  the  future  of  New  Orleans  was  now  assured,  La  Tour 
does  not  appear  to  have  finished  making  up  his  mind  about  the  town 
until  he  landed  there.  Owing  to  the  difficulties  encountered  by 
ships  in  doubling  English  Turn,  the  latter  spot  still  commanded  a 
certain  number  of  partisans.  The  entrance  of  the  Mississippi  ceased 
to  present  serious  difficulties,  once  the  passes  were  thoroughly  known. 
Only,  when  the  current  was  rapid  and  the  wind  contrary,  ships 
sometimes  took  a  month  to  work  upstream,  and  irksome  manoeuvres 
were  constantly  required. 

The  love  for  regulations,  always  so  fatal  to  French  colonies, 
had  prompted  the  Company's  Directors  to  determine,  in  their  Paris 
offices,  how  many  workmen  from  each  trade  should  be  employed  in 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  235 

New  Orleans.  On  the  19th  of  May,  the  engineers  were  graciously 
allowed  six  carpenters,  twelve  joiners,  seven  locksmiths,  three  edge- 
tool  makers,  two  smiths,  two  nail-makers,  five  brick-makers,  nine 
masons,  a  cooper,  a  wheel- wright,  a  pit-sawyer,  an  armourer,  two 
brewers,  two  gardeners,  a  baker,  two  ploughmen,  and  eight  hodmen. 

We  must  give  La  Tour  credit  for  not  bothering  about  these 
minute  orders;  and,  as  soon  as  he  landed,  he  began  to  atone  for  lost 
time.  Pauger  had  brought  from  Biloxi  thirty-eight  workmen,  and 
he  found  sixty-three  more  on  the  spot.  But  in  August,  the  total 
number  was  reduced  to  seventy,  and  at  the  beginning  of  September, 
only  fifty-two  remained.  Nor  did  workmen  merely  find  their  tasks 
severe,  but  they  complained  of  the  high  cost  of  living.  To  remedy 
this,  La  Tour  strictly  applied  the  Board's  decree,  dated  the  17th  of 
the  preceding  July,  which  forbade,  under  pain  of  two  hundred  livres 
fine,  the  selling  of  "French  beef"  in  New  Orleans  at  more  than  twenty 
sols  per  pound;  native  beef  was  reckoned  at  ten  so/5,  a  quarter  of 
buck  two  livres,  a  capon  forty  sols,  a  small  fowl  twenty  sols,  and 
eggs,  fifty  sols,  a  dozen.  La  Tour  furthermore  reduced  the  price  of 
beans  from  twenty -five  to  five  sols  a  pound,  "considering  that  they 
cost  merchants  only  eighteen  denier  s"  These  praiseworthy  efforts 
did  not  bear  much  fruit,  and  on  the  9th  of  September,  La  Tour  de- 
plores the  scarcity  of  labour.  "At  this  rate,"  he  writes,  "the  buildings 
will  not  be  finished  under  eighteen  months." 

The  sequel  proved  these  delays  to  have  been  fortunate  since 
a  cyclone  swept  down  upon  the  city,  in  the  night  of  the  llth  of 
September;  Diron  d'Artaguette  compares  it  to  the  hurricane  which 
laid  waste  Massacre  Island  in  1715.  The  wind  raged  for  fifteen 
hours,  and  destroyed 'the  huts  serving  as  church  and  rectory;  at  the 
hospital,  a  few  patients  were  injured. 

Dumont  de  Montigny  has  described  the  catastrophe  in  a  manu- 
script poem:  UEtablissement  de  la  Province  de  la  Louisiane  (Voir  the 
Journal  des  Americanistes,  1914,  p.  47.) 

La  Grele  se  mettant  d'une  telle  maniere 
Quellefit  craindre  a  tous  en  ce  triste  moment 
Que  Von  allait  avoir  le  dernier  jugement! 
Et  meme  les  oiseaux  tombaient  sur  le  rivage. 

Bayou  St.  John  rose  three  feet,  the  Mississippi  rose  nearly 
eight  feet,  and  the  powder  was  just  saved  in  time  by  being  transferred 
to  a  dove-cote  "which  M.  le  Commandant  had  built  so  as  to  afford 
himself  a  few  luxuries." 


236  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

•\ 

This  '  'disaster, "  which  appears  to  have  been  considerably  ex- 
aggerated, did  not  disturb  La  Tour  to  any  great  degree.  "All  these 
buildings, "he says,  "were  temporary  and  old,  not  a  single  one  was  in 
the  alignment  of  the  new  town,  and  they  were  to  have  been  pulled 
down.  Little  harm  would  have  been  done,  if  only  we  had  had  shel- 
ters for  everybody."  After  the  Chicago  fire  and  the  San  Francisco 
earthquake,  modern  American  engineers  spoke  in  very  similar 
terms. 

The  damage  caused  by  the  hurricane — thirty-four  huts  de- 
stroyed, according  to  D'Artaguette — was  soon  repaired;  and  since 
the  salary  of  most  workmen  rarely  exceeded  eight  sols  and  six  deniers 
per  day,  the  Company  had  to  disburse  only  the  trifle  of  four  hundred 
and  eighty-two  livres  in  addition  to  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  livres, 
ten  sols,  in  supplies. 

At  first,  La  Tour  employed  sixty  men  to  repair  the  buildings 
intended  for  his  own  use,  "before  even  God  was  under  cover  or  the 
sick  were  provided  for,"  Pauger  indignantly  exclaims.  Next,  came  an 
altercation  between  the  two  engineers,  which  Bienville  settled  in  his 
own  way  by  claiming  for  his  personal  enjoyment  the  house  under 
dispute.  Diron  d'Artaguette  writes,  on  the  20th  of  October:  "The 
store  which  M.  de  La  Tour  was  remodeling  to  make  a  house  for  him- 
self, will  not  serve  for  that  purpose,  M.  de  Bienville  having  haughtily 
opposed  it.  He  has  quite  broken  with  M.  de  La  Tour,  because  of 
this  and  certain  other  jealousies.  The  wood  has  been  taken  to  build 
the  Director's  house." 

Nevertheless,  the  hurricane  had  some  disastrous  consequences. 
The  entire  flotilla  of  the  capital  was  put  out  of  commission;  the 
Santo-Christo  and  the  Neptune,  ships  of  twelve  cannon  each,  went 
aground;  the  passage-boat  Abeille,  which  had  arrived  in  August, 
1721,  and  Le  Cher  foundered  in  the  Mississippi,  the  Aventurier  was 
more  fortunate;  it  had  raised  anchor  a  few  hours  before  the  cyclone 
bore  down,  and  was  able  to  resume  its  voyage  after  getting  some  re- 
pairs. This  ship  was  bearing  back  to  France  Hubert,  whose  recall 
coincided  with  the  decisive'  leap  into  life  of  the  post  which  he  had  so 
grievously  calumniated. 

Many  flat  boats,  notably  the  Postilion,  belonging  to  the  Sieur 
Dumanoir,  and  a  number  of  pirogues,  sank  with  their  loads  of  grain 
and  fowls  and  other  produce.  Then  a  month  of  torrential  rainfalls 
destroyed  the  last  crops  and  reduced  the  new  city  to  a  state  of  famine. 
Next  year,  the  price  of  eggs  rose  to  sixteen  sols  each,  a  handful  of 
peas  brought  three  livres,  a  piece  of  smoked  beef,  twenty-five  livres. 

Scarcely  had  the  ravages  of  the  storm  been  repaired,  when, 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  237 

without  loss  of  time,  the  Board  ordered,  on  the  19th  of  October,  all 
inhabitants  to  "enclose  their  land  in  palissades  before  two  months 
had  passed,  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  all  claim." 

De  Lorme  came  to  settle  at  New  Orleans  in  the  first  days  of 
November. 

From  the  first  of  July  to  the  31st  of  December,  1722,  the  engi- 
neers expended  the  sum  of  twenty-thousand,  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  livres,  ten  sols,  six  denier s.  If  Louisiana's  budget  often  seems  to 
have  been  unjustified,  we  may  at  least  note  that  official  accounts 
were  kept  with  extreme  care.  One  thousand,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  livres,  were  approximated  for  the  Director's  house,  five  hundred 
and  forty-four  livres  for  the  hospital,  nine  hundred  and  thirty-three 
livres  for  four  guard-houses  covered  with  bark,  etc.  (Colonies  C^a, 
7,  fol.  178.) 

As  part  of  this  chapter,  which  has  dealt  with  the  work  done 
at  New  Orleans  in  1722,  let  us  quote  the  story  of  its  foundation  as 
given  in  the  very  interesting  Relation  de  Voyage  en  Louisiane,  by 
Assistant  Engineer  Franquet  de  Chaville)  Journal  de  la  Societe  des 
Americanites,  Vol.  IV,  1st  Series,  p.  132): 

"Orders  being  given  to  abandon  all  we  had  already  done,  we 
talked  of  going  to  a  suitable  spot  where  the  town  named  New  Orleans 
might  be  built.  The  first  step  was  to  give  it  air  by  breaking  the  ground 
and  cutting  the  trees,  thick  as  the  hair  on  a  man's  head.  We  lost  no 
time  about  it,  exposing  ourselves  to  the  ardour  of  the  sun  and  the 
onslaught  of  insects  from  daybreak  until  nightfall.  In  less  than 
three  months,  we  had  cleared  a  square  representing  a  good  quarter 
of  a  league  of  forest.  After  which,  that  the  town  might  take  shape, 
we  urged  the  inhabitants  to  erect  houses  on  the  sites  we  marked 
for  them.  Each  one  vied  with  the  rest  to  finish  his  house  first;  so 
that  in  a  very  short  time  everybody  had  shelter,  and  the  Company's 
goods  were  under  cover  in  two  fine  stores,  the  frame-work  for  one  of 
which  had  been  brought  from  Biloxi. 

"The  plan  as  arranged  is  handsome;  the  streets  are  perfectly 
aligned,  and  of  convenient  width.  In  the  centre  of  the  town,  facing 
the  square,  are  all  the  public  buildings;  at  the  end  is  the  church,  with 
the  Directors'  house  on  one  side  and  the  stores  on  the  other.  The 
architecture  of  all  the  buildings  is  of  the  same  model,  very  simple. 
There  is  only  one  storey,  raised  a  foot  above  the  level  of  the  ground, 
resting  on  carefully  placed  foundations  and  covered  with  bark  or 
boards,  i  Each  block  or  He  is  divided  into  five  parts,  so  that  each 


»Soon  after,  all  New  Orleans  houses,  or  at  least  all  deserving  the  name,  were  "half-timbered." 


238  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

private  citizen  may  be  comfortably  lodged  and  may  have  a  yard 
or  a  garden.  This  city  was  founded  by  the  Company  of  the  Indies 
in  1722." 

The  new  capital  had  hardly  sprung  from  the  earth,  when  its 
gazetteer  arose.  After  the  1st  of  September,  1722,  Diron  d'Artaguette 
kept  a  diary  wherein,  during  his  entire  stay  in  New  Orleans,  he  noted 
down  day  by  day  the  most  minute  occurrences.  (Colonies,  C13c, 
2,  fol.  190.) 

On  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  September,  Bienville,  learning 
that  several  soldiers  had  conspired  to  escape  in  canoes  and  seize 
pilot  Kerlasiou's  passage-boat  at  the  Balise,  "ordered  patrol-beats 
throughout  the  night." 

19th  September,  two  thieves  were  tortured  at  the  rack,  and 
hanged  five  days  later.  Unexpected  developments  followed: 

"19th  October.  The  men  Marlot  and  Le  Boutteux,  the  first  a 
store-keeper  for  the  Company  and  the  second  a  former  store-keeper 
of  Mr.  Law's  concession,  are,  it  is  alleged,  tormented  nightly  by 
spirits  appearing  to  them  and  maltreating  them,  making  noises  in 
their  rooms.  Ignorant  people  believe  that  these  are  the  spirits  of  the 
two  men  hanged  last  month,  because  Marlot  was  filling  the  place  of 
King's  Prosecutor,  and  Le  Boutteux  was  their  accuser.  More  proba- 
bly it  is  someone  from  among  their  enemies.  Messrs,  the  clerks  make 
for  themselves  more  enemies  than  they  should." 

18th  October,  the  youthful  metropolis  was  for  the  first  time 
treated  as  a  capital;  the  Loire  and  the  DeuxFreres  saluted  the  town— 
if,  d'Artaguette  prudently  adds,  it  can  be  called  by  that  name — with 
a  salvo  of  sixteen  guns.  New  Orleans  did  not  expect  so  much  honour, 
apparently,  and  was  able  to  give  only  one  shot  in  reply. 

29th  October,  du  Tisne,  his  wife,  and  Father  Boulanger  arrived 
from  Canada. 

16th  November,  M.  de  Pontual,  assistant  clerk  of  the  Deux 
Freres,  killed,  by  a  sword-thrust  in  a  duel,  Laborde  assistant  clerk 
of  the  Dromadaire. 

22nd  November.  "We  have  learned,"  d'ArtagueUe  writes,  "that 
it  is  miserably  difficult  to  get  anything  from  the  stores.  Many  worthy 
people  can  get  nothing,  not  even  eau-de-vie,  or  wine.  Only  friends  are 
are  served,  although  there  is  a  plenty  for  the  citizens.  As  an  instance, 
Rossard,  a  notary,  gave  recently  a  meal  where  a  cask  of  the  best  wine 
was  drunk." 

At  this  period,  the  sanitary  condition  of  New  Orleans  was  de- 
plorable; there  were  ninety  cases  of  sickness.  Bienville,  who  had 
been  ill,  was  convalescent. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans  239 

On  the  26th,  a  sailor  was  "ducked"  for  insulting  Drillan,  distri- 
buting clerk. 

5th  December,  the  Alexandra  reached  New  Orleans;  and  on  the 
10th,  Guilhet,  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  Company,  died. 

The  almost  simultaneous  arrival  of  the  Dromadaire,  the  Loire 
and  the  Deux  Freres,  far  from  furthering  the  captain's  development, 
came  near  depopulating  it.  So  many  persons  claimed  to  have  press- 
ing engagements  in  France,  that  Bienville  judged  it  prudent  to 
decide  "that  he  would  allow  no  one  to  take  passage." 

At  that  period,  shortness  of  food  and  desertions  in  all  forms 
were  the  Colony's  two  great  afflictions.  Bienville's  Aide-de-Camp 
set  the  example  "by  passing  to  the  west  after  pilfering  a  few  bills." 
New  Orleans  had  been  so  systematically  assailed  by  its  detractors 
that  it  had  become  a  veritable  scare-crow.  A  company  of  Swiss 
workmen  under  the  command  of  Brandt,  a  Sergeant-Major,  pro- 
moted second  Captain  and  replacing  Merveilleux-Wonwunderlick, 
had  been  embarked  at  Biloxi  for  the  Capital ;  but  rather  than  go  there, 
they  rose  up,  led  by  their  chiefs,  and  forced  the  Captain  of  the  Elisa- 
beth to  set  sail  for  Havana. 

"Only  two  officers  from  among  them  remained  in  Louisiana,  a 
sergeant  and  a  few  women  whose  clothes  had  been  taken  by  the 
others,"  Bienville  wrote  on  the  21st  of  August,  1721.  "The  Swiss, 
reduced  to  eating  beans  and  salted  beef,  believe  that  the  Company 
is  ruined  and  that  they  are  about  to  die  of  starvation." 

At  Mobile,  three  soldiers  and  twelve  sailors,  in  a  canoe,  had 
just  put  their  officer,  M.  d'Harcourt,  ashore,  and  had  gone  to  Pensa- 
cola;  the  New  Orleans  garrison — most  of  whose  soldiers  were  either 
"gens  de  force"  or  else  farmer  deserters — were  rationed  on  dry  bread, 
and  only  wanted  a  pretext  for  going  to  Pensacola  too.  The  following 
year  a  ship  on  which  Boispinel,  the  engineer,  had  embarked  to  go  to 
Mobile,  raised  anchor  while  he  was  away  at  Mass,  and  left  with  his 
baggage  for  Carolina. 

In  January,  1724,  the  Balise  garrison  also  fled  to  Havana. 
Pauger,  without  seeking  to  excuse  them,  mentions  that  they  were 
dying  of  hunger  and  that  they  returned  the  ship  with  all  her  cargo, 
after  drawing  up  a  detailed  list  of  the  provisions  they  had  had  to 
consume. 


To  describe  the  progressive  growth  of  New  Orleans  would  be 
going  beyond  the  limits  of  the  present  study.  Let  us  merely  say  that 
the  big  store  was  finished  in  1723  and  the  officer's  pavilion  in  April, 


240  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

1724.  This  building  served  for  more  than  a  year  as  temporary 
church.  Pauger  asked  for  a  tabernacle  to  be  sent,  as  well  as  a  crucifix 
five  feet  and  a  half  high,  and  two  marble  statues  representing  the 
Virgin  and  Saint  Louis. 

Here  is  the  total  of  expenses  made  in  the  Capital  from  the  1st  of 
January,  1723,  to  the  1st  of  May,  1724: 

Workmen's  salaries 23.868  L  12  s    3  d 

Materials 2.667  Z,  15s    2d 

Levee...  391 L    Ss    6d 


26.927  L  15  slid 

In  1724,  work  on  the  church  and  on  the  barracks  was  begun,  and 
the  Capucin  Convent  was  almost  finished.  Finally,  next  year  Father 
Raphael  founded  the  first  New  Orleans  College,  whose  need  was  felt 
all  the  more  because,  according  to  the  expression  of  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  "hearts  at  New  Orleans  were  ill  disposed."  The  first  head 
of  the  New  College  was  a  former  Capucin,  Brother  Saint  Julien, 
"put  out  because  of  a  fault  in  his  youth/'  a  worthy  man,  well  grounded 
in  Latin,  mathematics,  music,  and  drawing,  but  who  laboured  under 
the  misfortune  of  very  bad  penmanship. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Vieux  Carre  and  the  First  Engineers 
of  New  Orleans. 

ONG  years  of  custom  have  consecrated  the  name 
Vieux  Carre  still  given  to  Eighteenth  Century  New 
Orleans,  although  its  shape  is  rectangular  rather  than 
square.  In  length,  the  old  town  measures  six  hundred 
and  twenty  toises  by  the  river  side,  on  a  depth  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty  toises.  All  the  blocks  measured  fifty  toises  in 
each  direction,  and  were  surrounded  by  gutters.  (See  Dumont  de 
Montigny's  plan,  page  — ).  Theoretically,  some  were  divided  into 
five  lots  and  others  into  twelve;  but  many  citizens  threw  several  lots 
mto  one. 

The  streets  had  not  yet  been  named  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1723,  date  of  the  plan  drawn  up  by  La  Tour.1  Names  appear  for 
the  first  time  on  the  plan  dated  the  23rd  of  April  following.2  After 
La  Tour's  death,  Pauger  completed  the  nomenclature,  called  a  street 
after  St.  Adrien,  his  patron,  and  introduced  various  modifications  of 
which  scarcely  any  was  maintained  by  his  successor,  Broutin. 

We  give,  below,  a  list  of  the  old  streets  of  the  Vieux  Carre, 
going  from  north  to  south;  several  have  retained  their  primitive 
names.  Those  from  La  Tour's  plan  are  printed  in  capitals,  Pauger's 
are  given  in  italics,  and  later  denominations  are  put  in  parenthesis. 

Rue  d'Anguin,  for  Enghien  (Bienville);  RUE  BIENVILLE, 
(Conti);  RUE  SAINT-LOUIS;  RUE  DE  TOULOUSE;  RUE 


»Ministry  of  War.  7c,  217. 

»Arch.  Hydrogr.,  Bibl..  4044  C.,  No.  63. 


242  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

SAINT-PIERRE;  RUE  D'ORLEANS  or  Grande-Rue;  RUE 
SAINTE-ANNE;  RUE  DUMAINE;  RUE  SAINT-  PHILIPPE, 
de  Clermont  (Saint-Philippe);  RUE  DE  L' ARSENAL,  Saint-  Adrien 
(de  T Arsenal,  Sainte-Ursule,1  later  des  Ursulines);  Rue  de  V Arsenal 
(de  1'Hopital) ;  (Barracks);  (Esplanade). 

Running  perpendicularly:  RUE  DU  QUAI,  Quai  (Old  Levee); 
RUE  DE  CHARTRES;2  RUE  ROYALLE,  Royalle-Bourbon  (Royale, 
Royal);  RUE  DE  BOURBON,  Conty  (Bourbon);  Rue  de  Vendome 
(Dauphine);  (Rue  de  Bourgogne,  Burgundy);  (Rampart). 

New  Orleans  proved  fatal  to  the  first  three  engineers  put  in 
charge  of  the  work  there.  Boispinel,  who  had  arrived  in  January, 
1723,  replacing  in  the  capital  Pauger,  sent  to  the  Balise,  died  on  the 
18th  of  September,  1723;  he  had  been  appointed  engineer  on  the  1st 
of  April,  1715,  Knight  of  Saint-Louis,  Lieutenant,  then  reserve 
Captain  of  the  Champagne  Regiment  in  1719;  a  note  kept  at  the 
Ministry  of  War  states  that  he  was  '  'buried  under  a  mine  at  the 
siege  of  Landau,  and  wounded  before  Fribourg."  La  Tour  died  on 
the  14th  of  October,  1723,  just  as  the  Company  was  calling  him  to 
Paris  so  that  he  might  make  known  the  facts  about  Louisiana.  Pau- 
ger died  on  the  9th  of  June,  1726.  According  to  this  last,  "Messieurs 
La  Tour  and  Boispinel  died  of  nothing  but  chagrin  at  the  mortifi- 
cations heaped  upon  us  all."3 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that  the  New  Orleans  climate  was 
extremely  unhealthy  at  that  period,  and  that  the  doctors  there 
left  much  to  be  desired.  Bienville  wrote:  "Berard,  the  physician, 
though  less  of  a  rogue  than  his  predecessor,  is  quite  as  ignorant. " 
The  Board,  learning  that  Prevost,  a  surgeon,  "wanted  to  sell  him- 
self rather  too  dear,  straightened  the  matter  out  and  now  he  can  get 
no  medicine  unless  the  head  clerk  gives  him  an  order  for  it."  Mean- 
while the  patient  waited  if  necessary. 

Assistant  Engineer  Franquet  de  Chaville,  having  perceived  in 
time  that  "services  in  this  country  are  not  good  for  the  complexion," 
as  he  expressed  it,  prudently  left  Louisiana  in  the  spring  of  1724. 
The  Company  had  annoyed  him  shortly  before,  reducing  his  salary 
by  five  hundred  livres.  At  the  same  period,  Devin,  an  excellent 
draftsman,  saw  his  living  allowance  cut  down,  and  "disgusted  with 
the  country,"  sought  to  return  to  France. 


iThis  note  appears  on  a  plan  kept  at  the  Archives  Nationales  (Colonies,  O»a,  fol.  139.)  Several 
blocks  are  joined  together  on  this  plan:  "The  two  blocks,  or  old  government,"  cut  off  Chartres  Street 
at  Bienville  Street,  and  the  "hospital  for  troops  and  nuns"  filled  a  group  of  four  blocks  south  of  St. 
Ursula  Street,  between  the  Levee  and  Royal  Streets. 

*La  Tour  gave  the  name  of  Conty,  and  Pauger  of  Rue  de  Conde,  to  the  portion  of  this  Street 
prolonged  south  of  the  Place  d'Armes. 

^Colonies,  C»a,  8,  fol.  8. 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 


243 


Bienville  had  not  liked  Chaville:  "He  will  never  amount  to 
much,  he  does  nothing  but  draw!"  Which  did  not  prevent  him  from 
becoming  Engineer-in-Chief,  and  later  Director  of  the  Engineer 
Corps  at  La  Rochelle.  Pauger  wrote  of  him  on  the  3rd  of  January, 
1724:  "Chaville  has  finished  the  big  store  *  *  *  erected  buildings 
*  *  *  completed  the  big  levee  five  hundred  toises  long,  so  that 
New  Orleans  is  growing  very  rapidly  and  will  undoubtedly  become 
one  of  the  largest  of  towns."1  It  may  be  observed  that  this  prophesy 
was  made  four  years  previous  to  that  of  Madeleine  Hachard.  Bancrof  t  Lit 

To  the  necrology  of  the  founders  of  New  Orleans  we  must  add 
the  name  of  Kerlasiou,  who  died  on  the  3rd  of  September,  1723.  A 


a  Small  Island  of  New  Orleans.     (After  Dumont  of  Montigny.) 

ver>*  able  pilot,  it  was  he  who  demonstrated  the  practical  possibility 
of  bringing  all  ships  up  the  Mississippi. 

As  compensation  for  the  many  obstacles  he  had  overcome, 
and  as  indemnity  for  a  sum  of  four  thousand  livres  he  had  advanced 
in  payments  of  various  sorts,  Pauger  asked,  on  the  22nd  of  March, 
1722,'that  his  concession  of  a  tract  opposite  New  Orleans  be  confirmed. 
He  had  already  broken  ten  acres  of  this  land,  built  a  house  costing 
more  than  a  thousand  livres,  a  barn  and  four  cabins,  and  had  settled 
there  with  his  possessions,  eleven  negroes  and  negresses,  a  young 
Indian,  four  head  of  horned  cattle,  and  four  hogs.  Yet  Bienville 
contested  his  claim,  so  Pauger  informs  us,  because  he  himself  had 


iColonits,  O»a,  fol.  13. 


244  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

secured  a  concession  in  free-hold  on  the  6thMof  March,  1720.  Pauger 
writes:  'The  Governor  already  owns,  just  beyond  the  town,  a  fine 
plantation,  Bel- Air,  which  he  can  extend  at  will — and  elsewhere,  so 
many  concessions  does  the  Sieur  de  Bienville  hold  and  so  extraordi- 
nary is  the  immensity  of  the  lands  he  owns!" 

The  truth  is  that  Bienville,  already  master  of  Horn  Island  and 
various  other  concessions,  granted  to  himself,  as  we  see  by  maps 
of  the  period,  a  considerable  quantity  of  lands  all  round  New  Orleans, 
and  two  blocks  within  the  city  itself. 

Although  the  worthy  engineer  had  been  in  possession  for  three 
years,  the  Board  definitely  rejected  his  claim  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1724.  According  to  a  letter  by  Asfeld,-  "the  ground  which  he  had 
started  to  cultivate  was  taken  back  from  him  without  indemnity." 
But  since  later  plans  mark  this  site  as  the  dwelling  of  the  King's 
negroes,  Bienville  could  not  have  appropriated  it. 

As  for  the  site  on  which  Pauger  had  built  his  New  Orleans  house, 
his  claim  for  the  concession  was  definitely  confirmed  only  in  September 
1725 — so  great  was  the  hostility  shown  him  by  the  members  of  the 
Colonial  Board.  His  correspondence  was  frequently  tampered  with; 
so  many  letters  were  indeed  lost,  by  others  as  well  as  by  him,  that 
on  the  21st  of  May,  1724,  the  Marine  Board  threatened  a  fine  of  five 
hundred  livres  and  either  dismissal  or  the  pillory  for  any  one  caught 
intercepting  letters  in  Louisiana. 

Pauger's  tribulations  continued  as  long  as  he  lived.  Boisbriant, 
acting  commandant  in  Bienville' s  absence,  writes  on  the  4th  of 
October,  1725,  that  he  "had  to  put  a  humble  colonist  in  the  guard- 
house, for  having  uttered  defamatory  remarks  about  M.  de  Pauger 
in  a  conversation."  The  members  of  the  Board,  and  Father  Raphael, 
cure  of  New  Orleans,  all  adversaries  of  Boisbriant  and  of  the  officers, 
took  the  part  of  this  colonist,  one  Barbaut.  According  to  them,  he 
had  merely  written  to  the  Company  drawing  attention  to  a  heavy 
rebate  granted  by  Pauger  on  a  supply  of  building-wood. 

Having  passed  Major  General  and  Engineer-in-Chief  after 
La  Tour's  death,  Pauger  asked  to  sit  on  the  Colonial  Board,  a  privi- 
lege to  which  his  agreement  entitled  him,  as  the  Company  gave  orders 
to  this  effect  on  the  27th  of  May,  1724.  Nevertheless,  his  many 
enemies  long  prevented  him  from  taking  his  seat  there,  save  for  mat- 
ters directly  concerning  his  work. 

Asfeld  mentions  a  report  current  in  New  Orleans,  in  1726, 
according  to  which  the  Company  intended,  from  economical  motives, 
to  replace  Pauger  by  Broutin,  "who  was  content  with  more  mediocre 
salaries."  The  Engineer-in-Chief  received  at  that  time  eight  thous- 


246  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

and  livres',  engineers,  five  thousand;  the  "'assistant  engineer,  two 
thousand  four  hundred;  Devin  the  draftsman,  six  hundred.  Soon 
after,  the  salaries  of  the  engineers  were  cut  down  considerably. 
As  for  Pauger,  he  was  so  disheatened  that  he  asked  no  better  than  to 
return  home.  On  the  6th  of  November,  1725,  he  wrote  to  his  brother: 
"Everything  here  is  ablaze,  each  man  yells  and  behaves  according 
to  his  wont,  and  never  has  the  country  rushed  along  such  an  incline 
towards  total  loss.  *  *  *  My  mind  is  made  up,  I  have  been  twice 
driven  to  extremity,  and  now  I  am  going  back  to  France  by  the 
first  boat." 

But  he  was  not  allowed  time  to  do  this.  Feeling  his  end  draw 
near,  he  made  his  will  on  the  5th  of  June,  1726,  " After  recommend- 
ing his  soul  to  all  the  saints  in  Paradise,  and  especially  to  St.  Adrien 
his  patron,  to  obtain  the  remission  of  his  sins.  *  *  *  He  gives  his 
soul  to  God  and  his  body  to  the  earth,  wishing  to  be  buried  in  the 
church  at  New  Orleans,  if  possible.  *  *  *  He  desires  and  intends 
that  in  the  said  church  three  solemn  services  be  held  for  the  repose 
of  his  soul,  and  an  anniversary;  that  three  hundred  low  masses  be 
also  celebrated,  and  that  every  Monday  each  week  a  De  Profundis 
be  said  by  the  officiating  priest  at  the  close  of  the  mass;  for  which 
shall  be  paid,  once  and  for  all,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  livres." 

Pauger  left  his  plantation  at  Point  St.  Antoine  to  the  Sieur 
Dreux;  made  many  legacies  to  his  servants;  bequeathed  his  books 
and  instruments  to  Devin;  his  Moreri  dictionary  to  Prat,  his  doctor; 
his  religious  books  to  the  Capucins;  and  finally,  as  a  burying  of  the 
hatchet,  his  gun  and  pistols  to  Bienville. 

He  died  four  days  after  signing  his  will:  "of  an  intermittent 
fever  which  became  a  slow  fever,"  says  the  certificate  signed  by 
Prat  or  Duprat,  "physician-botanist,  Doctor  of  the  Montpellier 
Faculty,"  who  had  been  in  Louisiana  since  1724. 

If  we  have  dealt  rather  lengthily  with  Pauger,  it  is  because  he 
was  the  keystone  for  the  foundation  of  New  Orleans.  He  wrote  on 
the  23rd  of  September,  1723:  "If  I  had  not  taken  upon  myself  all 
that  could  be  done  to  overcome  ill-will,  things  would  not  yet  have 
got  beyond  the  stage  of  sending  ships  into  the  river,  and  the  princi- 
pal seat  would  have  remained  at  Biloxi,  where  the  country  could  not 
provide  sufficient  food,  as  it  does  here." 

Pauger  never  boasted,  and  the  town  owes  as  much  gratitude  to 
him  as  to  Bienville.  On  Broutin's  big  plan  (See  plate  No.  IV)  the 
exact  site  of  the  house  in  which  he  died  can  readily  be  located.  It 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 


247 


was  known  as  "Terrain  No.  8,"  along  the  river,  almost  in  the  centre 
of  the  block  lying  between  St.  Louis  et  Bienville  (now  Conti)  streets. 
New  Orleans  would  honour  not  only  him,  but  herself,  by  putting 
there,  or  in  the  Cathedral  where  he  lies  buried,  an  inscription  to 
commemorate  him  who  worked  so  untiringly  to  assure  her  creation, 
and  who  died  of  his  labours.  It  is  unjust  that  there  should  be  a  La 
Tour  Street,  while  none  bears  the  name  of  Pauger. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Briefly  Statistical. 

ARTICULARLY  unhealthy  at  this  period,  the  cli- 
mate of  New  Orleans  encouraged  epidemics  which  on 
several  occasions  decimated  the  population.  If  we  are 
to  believe]  D'Artaguette,  '  'eight  or  nine  people  per 
day/'  or  one-sixtieth  of  its  inhabitants,  were  dying  in 
the  capital,  when  he  came  down  from  Illinois  in  September,  1723. 
Two  years  before,  one  thousand  had  died  at  Biloxi.  A  new  epidemic 
raged  in  the  summer  of  1725;  Father  Raphael  wrote:  "There  are 
not  two  people  who -have  not  been  ill."  The  population  in  1727 
was  still  only  nine  hundred  and  thirty  eight  souls  (729  masters,  65 
enlisted  men,  127  negroes,  and  17  Indian  slaves),  owning  ten  horses 
and  thirty-one  head  of  horned  cattle.  The  population  of 
the  surrounding  country  was  six  hundred  masters,  one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  thirty-four  negroes,  and  fifty-six  Indians;  there 
were  one  thousand  four  hundred  arid  sixteen  head  of  cattle,  one 
hundred  and  seventy-one  horses,  and  eight  hundred  and  forty - 
three  hogs. 

Nevertheless,  the  Creoles  were  already  proud  of  their  capital. 
Madeleine  Hachard  tells  us,  in  her  Relation  du  voyage  des  Dames 
religieuses  Ursulmes1  that  early  in  1728,  a  song  was  currently  sung, 
in  which  they  say  "this  town  has  as  fine  an  appearance  as  the  City 
of  Paris!"  After  a  few  prudent  restrictions,  the  good  nun  adds: 
"It  is  true  that  the  town  grows  daily,  and  can  eventually  become  as 


iThe  contract  with  the  Ursulines  for  establishing,  in  NewIOrleans,  Marie  Tranchepain  deiSaint- 
Augustin  and  Mariane  LeiBoullanger  Angelique,  accompanied  by  ten  nuns,  had  been  ratified  onithe 
18th  of  September,  1726. 


250  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 

fine  and  as  big  as  the  principal  towns  of  France,  provided  workmen 
come  and  it  can  be  populated  in  proportion  to  its  size."  Incontesti- 
bly,  this  appreciation  suggested  to  Father  Charlevoix,  who  both 
read  and  copied  much,  the  idea  for  the  celebrated  prophecy  about 
New  Orleans. 

In  spite  of  which,  the  number  of  inhabitants  had  dwindled, 
five  years  later,  because  certain  agriculturists  had  moved  farther 
away  from  the  city.  The  1732  census  put  the  population  at  eight 
hundred  and  ninety-three,  of  whom  six  hundred  and  twenty-six 
Europeans  (229  men,  169  women,  183  children,  45  orphans),  three 
Indians,  six  squaws,  one  hundred  and  two  negroes,  seventy-four 
negresses,  seventy-six  negro  boys  and  girls,  three  mulattoes.  The 
number  of  horses  had  increased  by  four,  but  the  heads  of  cattle  had 
decreased  by  one  hundred  and  fifty-three. 

In  1737,  the  population  rose  to  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty-eight,  thanks  especially  to  a  multiplication  of  negroes.  As  for 
Europeans,  there  were  only  about  one  hundred  more  than  before: 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-nine  Europeans  (220  men,  181  women,  158 
boys  and  200  girls);  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  negroes,  two 
hundred  and  fifty-three  negresses,  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
negro  boys,  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  negro  girls,  ten  Indians, 
and  sixteen  squaws. 

From  that  period  onward,  the  population  of  New  Orleans  grew 
steadily;  and  in  1756,  already  numbered  four  thousand. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1788,  a  fierce  fire  destroyed,  in  five  hours 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  houses  out  of  eleven  hundred.  Yet  this  did 
not  prove  to  be  more  than  an  incident  in  the  life  of  the  town,  re- 
tarding its  growth  by  only  a  few  years. 

Chicago,  on  whose  present  site  the  Marine  Board  decided  to 
build  a  fort,  30th  March,  1716,  has  one  million,  eight  hundred  thous- 
and inhabitants;  but  of  all  the  towns  which  deserved  the  name  at  the 
time  when  France  lost  her  American  possessions,  New  Orleans  is 
by  far  the  largest  today:  Montreal  has  not  more  than  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  thousand  residents,  and  Quebec  seventy  thousand. 

One  century  after  its  foundation,  the  Crescent  City's  inhabi- 
tants numbered  twenty-six  thousand;  in  1847,  one  hundred  thousand; 
in  1868,  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand;  this  figure  rises  to 
four  hundred  thousand  for  the  second  centennial,  and  the  opening 


A  History  of  the  Foundation  of  New  Orleans 


251 


of  the  Panama  Canal  cannot  but  promote  still  further  the  develop- 
ment and  the  prosperity  of  New  Orleans. 


CORRECTIONS 


Dr.  Milton  Dunn  of  Natchitoches,  the  author  of  the  article  on 
that  oldest  of  Louisiana  cities,  Natchitoches,  which  appeared  in  our 
issue  of  January,  1920,  calls  our  attention  to  a  number  of  printers' 
errors,  chiefly  in  names,  that  occur  on  the  article  as  printed,  viz: 

The  word  Caston  in  the  first  line  on  the  page  should  be  Castor. 
On  page  29,  2nd  line  Poissat  should  be  Poisson,  5th  line  Groppe 
should  be  Grappe.  On  page  32,  line  3,  Morthe  should  be  Mothe, 
line  31,  Lavoy  should  be  Larry.  On  page  34,  line  21,  should  read 
"Colonel  Cushing  with  three  companies  and  four  pieces  of  artillery." 
On  page  36,  line  33,  Ferre  Noir  should  be  Terre  Noir.  On  page  37, 
line  40,  De  Rusez  should  be  De  Rusey.  On  page  40,  line  9,  Doc 
Vennett  should  be  Doc  Bennett.  On  page  44,  line  14  Tanzier  should 
be  Tauzin.  On  page  46,  line  24,  Ludwick  should  be  Lodwick.  On 
page  47  line  1,  Texas  should  be  Shreveport.  On  page  48,  line  40, 
Suffords  Creek  should  be  Swoffords  Creek.  On  page  49,  line  31, 
General  Many  should  be  Colonel  Many.  On  page  54,  line  21,  Laltier 
should  be  Lattier.  On  page  55,  line  15,  Listan  should  be  Lestan. 


THE  EDITOR'S  CHAIR 

v 

As  every  Louisianian  should  be,  and  is  generally  interested  in 
all  that  relates  to  Louisiana,  the  publication  of  a  good  translation 
of  Baron  Marc  de  Villiers's  new  book  on  the  Foundation  of  New 
Orleans  gives  us  an  opportunity  to  lead  our  own  people  as  well  as 
the  world  generally,  up  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  earnest, 
difficult,  hazardous  and  brilliantly  successful  work  done  by  those 
pioneers  who  opened  the  way  for  us,  doing  it  some  two  centuries 
age.  So  in  this  issue  we  publish  in  full  a  good  translation  of  Baron 
Marc  de  Villiers's  excellent  work  deferring  all  other  matters  to  later 
issues. 


Statement  of  Ownership,  Management,  Circulation,  etc.,  required  by 
Act  of  Congress  of  August  24,  1912,  of  the  LOUISIANA  HISTORICAL  QUAR- 
TERLY, published  quarterly  at  New  Orleans.  La.,  for  April  1.  1920.  State 
of  Louisiana.  Parish  of  Orleans.  Before  me.  a  Notary  Public,  in  and  for  the  State 
and  Parish  aforesaid,  personally  appeared  John  Dymond,  who.  having  been 
duly  sworn  according  to  law.  deposes  and  says  that  he  is  the  Editor  of  the  LOUIS- 
IANA HISTORICAL  QUARTERLY,  and  that  the  following  is,  to  the  best  of 
his  knowledge  and  belief,  a  true  statement  of  the  ownership,  management, 
etc.,  of  the  aforesaid  publication  for  the  date  shown  in  the  above  caption,  re- 
quired by  the  Act  of  August  24.  1912.  Publisher.  Louisiana  Historical  Society. 
Editor.  Managing  Editor,  Business  Manager.  John  Dymond.  New  Orleans,  La. 
2.  That  the  owners  are:  The  Historical  Society  and  issues  no  stock;  officers  are 
G.  Cusachs,  President;  John  Dymond,  First  Vice-President,  William  Kernan  Dart, 
Second  Vice- President;  Henry  Renshaw,  Third  Vice-President;  W.  O.  Hart, 
Treasurer,  and  Buseiere  Rouen.  Corresponding  Secretary,  all  of  New  Orleans, 
La.  3.  That  the  known  bondholders,  mortgagees  and  other  security  holders 
owning  or  holding  1  per  cent,  or  more  of  total  amount  of  bonds,  mortgages,  or 
other  securities  are:  None.  Signed  John  Dymond.  Editor.  Sworn  to  and 
subscribed  before  me  this  29th  day  of  March,  1920.  (Seal).  Augustus  Williams. 
Notary  Publir.  (My  commission  is  fur  life-time.) 


